I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.? 

MhHSJ. .//... lopBrisW ^0. _ ; 

! UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.? 



REVIEW EXERCISES IN THE 
SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 



THEIR VALUE AND METHODS. 



BY 

KEY. H. CLAY TRUMBULL, 

NORMAL SECRETARY OF THE AMERICAJf SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION. 



3 to 

PHILADELPHIA: _ 
THE AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, 

No. 1122 Chestnut Street. 

!-^^^ 

NEW YORK: Nos. 7, 8 & 10 Bible House, Astor Place. 
BOSTON : No. 40 Winter Street. 




y^-f 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S73, by 

THE AMERICAN SUNDAY- SCHOOL UNION, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at "Washington. 



CONTENTS. 



SUNDAY-SCHOOL REVIEWS, . . • . 

WHY TO REVIEW, 

WHEN AND HOW TO REVIEW, . 

Weekly Reviews, .... 

•weekly reviews in the class, 

superintendent's weekly REVIEW, 
pastor's weekly REVIEW, 

Monthly Reviews, .... 

Quarterly Reviews, .... 
NO review without a plan, 
plans of quarterly class review, 

PLANS OF quarterly DESK REVIEW, 

methods of review questioning, . 
visible helps in reviewing, 
reviews in the teachers' meeting, 
Annual and Occasional Reviews, 
ANTIQUITY OF REVIEWS, . 



PAGE 

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, 34 

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. 98 



SUNDAY-SCHOOL REVIEWS. 



Hardly any department of the teacher's work is 
of greater importance than that of reviews ; yet hardly 
any has received less attention in treatises on Sun- 
day-school teaching, or in actual Sunday-school prac- 
tice. While an admitted fundamental law of teaching 
is, " Review, review, review ; carefully, thoroughly, 
repeatedly," volume after volume and essay upon 
essay, on the work of the Sunday-school teacher, have 
been completed without so much as a passing mention 
of the necessity or methods of reviewing ; and it is 
doubtless true to-day that in a large majority of Sun- 
day-schools nothing like a review is ever attempted, 
either in the class or from the desk, and little is 
known of how best to conduct one. 

The theme has of course not been left unnoticed 
by every well-known Sunday-school writer. Under 
the heads of " repetition," " revision," and " recapitu- 
lation," as well as of "review," its importance has 
been recognized and its principles enforced by those 
whose words have weight in the Sunday-school world. 
James Inglis has said, " One of the most essential, 

5 



6 SrXD AY- SCHOOL REVIEWS. 

thougli least interesting parts of the work of Sunday- 
scliool instruction, is the revision of what has been 
previously taught. Every teacher must lay his ac- 
count with a large measure of this kind of work.'* 
Says TV. H. Groser, '' Teachers must be content, 
even though they sometimes find it wearisome, to 
present the same old truths again and again, until 
they are securely lodged in the understanding and 
the heart of the pupil." Dr. Gregory declares, "No 
time is spent more profitably in school than the time 
spent in reviews ; and he is the best teacher, other 
things being equal, who secures from his class the 
most frequent and thorough reviews." " For many 
years," says Ralph Wells, "I have been deeply im- 
pressed with the importance of reviews, and fear the 
subject has not been duly pondered in many of our 
Sunday-schools." Yet notwithstanding all these warm 
words of good workers, so lituTe p'rominerjce has, on 
the whole, been given to the department of reviews in 
comj^arison with other phases of the teacher's work, 
in the range of Sunday-school literature, that now 
when Sunday-schools generally are invited, in the 
plan of the International Lessons, to give to reviews 
at least one Sunday in a quarter, there seems a call for 
the suggestions herewith presented as to the value and 
methods of review exercises in the Sunday-school. 



WHY TO REYIEW. 



1. Truth is fastened in the mind only through its 
frequent repetition. 

A child does not know its own name merely from 
hearing it once called. Each letter of the alphabet 
must be many times repeated to fix it in the young 
learner's mind. The multiplication table is memor- 
ized by the brightest scholar only through saying it 
over and over again. The simplest truths of religion 
require quite as many repetitions to give them a per- 
manent place in the mind of a beginner in knowledge 
as do facts of a less important character. It has 
been truly said, " A child will not remember that 
God made him, that Jesus Christ is the Saviour of 
sinners, that Adam was the first man, or Eve the first 
woman, merely because he has been told all these 
particulars once. A hymn or a text, though com- 
mitted with perfect accuracy, will soon fade from the 
memory, unless the impression of it is revived by 

7 



5 WHY TO EEVIEW. 

frequent repetition." The plea is well founded, in 
the hymn of " The Old, Old Story,"— 

" Tell me the story often, 
For T forget so soon: 
The ' early dew' of morning 
Has pass'd away at noon." 

That which is fully understood one day will often 
he forgotten the next unless it is revived and reviewed. 
Scholars who recited well their lessons last week do 
not necessarily carry those lessons with them still, if 
nothing has heen said of them since their first recital. 
Many who seemed intelligent and appreciative in their 
study of last quarter's lessons, cannot now tell from 
what book of the Bible those lessons were taken, nor 
name a person mentioned in them, because they were 
never called to a review of the truths once passed 
over. It is a rare thing for any person to have clearly 
in mind a truth he has heard but once. Not with 
children alone, but with all, "precept must be upon 
precept, precept upon precept ; line upon line, line 
upon line;" to give full force to wise injunctions. 
When our Lord would lay a new command on the 
penitent Peter, he not only asked, " Simon, son of 
Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?" but "He 
saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of 
Jonas, lovest thou me ?" Nor content Avith one such 



WHY TO EEVIEW. 9 

repetition, " He saith unto him the third time, Simon, 
son of Jonas, lovest thou me ?" And three times also 
he enjoined upon the disciple the care of his flock. 
Who doubts that this re-enforcement and review of 
his first utterance gave manifold power to those words 
of our Lord to Peter ? 

The truth that has been once stated — the lesson 
that has been once taught — is not on that account to 
be passed without further mention. It is the very 
one to be repeated and reviewed, that it may be fairly 
and fully in the mind of the pupil. Only through 
often repetition does truth find a final lodgment in 
the memory. 

2. A review gives a new and better understanding 
of any subject. 

One sweep of the heavens with a telescope does not 
make an astronomer. The soldier is not a veteran 
when he has been through a single battle. A sailor 
knows the sea better after his twentieth voyage than 
after his first. A solitary case of scarlet fever treated 
successfully does not make a skilled physician. No 
man is familiar with the mountains or the woods when 
he has examined them once. He who has never seen 
Niagara or the Yosemite valley a second time knows 



10 WHY TO REVIEW. 

little of its grandeur and beauties. He who thinks 
he could find nothing new at that point on another 
visit has hut a pitiful sense of what Grod has there 
disclosed of his power and glory. 

Even a fine painting or a piece of sculpture must be 
often seen to be fully appreciated. Far more is it true 
that no important subject of study is comprehended 
on its first examination. ''Its novelties dazzle or 
confuse the mind. As when we enter a strange 
house, we know not where to look at once for the 
several apartments, and the articles of interest and 
value ; even a familiar guide can only point them 
out to us ; "ue need to return again and again, and 
observe them with eyes grown familiar to the place 
and light : so one rarely returns to an old book or 
lesson without finding much that is new and valuable 
which escaped the first study. ... At every review 
we approach the lesson from a new point of view. 
We come with a different aim and feeling, and bring 
with us the light of some new knowledge."* 

Peculiarly is it true that in Bible lessons there is 
an advantage in re-examination and review. Says 
quaint old Thomas Fuller, " Lord, this morning I 
read a chapter in the Bible, and therein observed a 

^ Dr. J. M. Gregory, in '' The Sunday-School Teacher." 



WHY TO REVIEW. 11 

memorable passage, whereof I never took notice 
before, ^hy now, and no sooner, did I see it? 
Formerly my eyes were as open and the letters as 
legible. Is there not a thin veil laid over thy word, 
which is more rarefied by reading, and at last wholly 
worn away?" So, in our own day, Dean Alford 
closed his twenty years work on a commentary of the 
New Testament with the conviction of his utter in- 
ability fully to fathom the simplest passage of God's 
Word, and Dr. Stowe declares, after more than a 
score of times passing over each verse of the Bible, 
in a critical search of its meaning in the original 
text, that he finds truth which seems utterlj^ new and 
fresh in every review of what he has been over so 
many times before. Hence few exercises of the 
Sunday-school are more directly profitable than re- 
views of Bible lessons already considered ; and it 
seems a wrong towards a scholar to deny him the 
advantages of a later examination of the lesson once 
studied, with its resulting benefits in new disclosures 
of truth and beauty. 

3. Revietvs are necessaj-y to slioiv the unity and 
harmony of a series of lessons. 

He who could only see one star at a time would 
have a sadly imperfect view of the beauties of the 



12 WHY TO EEVIEW. 

midnight skies, even after looking patiently at a 
thousand stars in succession. The man whose vision 
was so limited that he could only see, through a glass, 
a few inches at a time of a fine painting, would hardly 
have a correct conception of the picture as a whole, 
when he had been carefully over all the canvas. 
Fine scenery is not to be looked at in its several 
parts alone — its separate hills and trees and streams 
noted singly ; it must be reviewed in all the beauty 
of its harmonious variety from a point above the 
whole. A Swiss guide while piloting a party of tour- 
ists towards one of the Alpine summits halted them 
at a certain point of their ascent, saying, as he turned 
their attention down over the way already passed, 
" Here is the place for us to look back." And below 
them the travellers saw an extended landscape, many 
beauties of which were unnoticed while they strug- 
gled upwards, and would be concealed from sight at 
a loftier elevation. That halt gave to the tourists a 
new sense of the loveliness of their surroundings, 
and a fresh conception of the relative position of the 
hamlets and valleys and glaciers and beetling crags 
they had observed in passing. Now for the first time 
they knew something of that region in its entirety. 

So there are points in every mental journey where 
gain is found in looking back — gain through a new 



WHY TO REVIEW. 13 

sense of the mutual relations of the several parts of 
a harmonious whole. The child, who has been tedi- 
ously spelling single words in long columns for days 
and weeks, has a fresh and delightful conception of 
the meaning of printed words, when he is made to re- 
view the last fifteen he has spelled out, and he finds 
them to form the sentence, " The-eyes-of-the-Lord- 
are-in-every-place-, beholding-the-evil and-the-good." 
A similar but more important discovery is made by 
one reviewing the lessons of any month, or quarter, 
or year, in the Sunday-school. The connection and 
relations of these lessons cannot be shown except in 
review. Those who fail to review them fail to per- 
ceive the beauty they exhibit, and the truth they teach 
as a series. As well might one set a child to examine 
the varied irregular bits of a dissected map, or a 
mosaic picture, without putting them together and 
seeing what they form when united, as to conduct a 
class, or a Sunday-school, with only an examination 
of each week's lesson by itself, and never a review of 
the teachings of a special term. 

4. A review helps forward those ivho are^ from any 
cause, in the hachground. 

As a superintendent was on his way, with a friend, 
to church and Sunday-school, a plaintive voice was 



14 WHY TO REVIEW. 

heard behind, crying, "Papa, wait! Vanpn, tvait !" 
Looking back, the superintendent saw his little son, 
hurrying after him, unable to overtake him, and cry- 
ing because of his inability. Of course the father 
stopped as soon as he heard the call, and he waited 
until the little fellow came up with him. "Why 
didn't you stop before?" asked the child, sobbing in 
his grief at being so long behind. " Because I didn't 
know you were there," said the loving father, ten- 
derly. " But, wJiT/ didn't you look hack^' asked the 
boy, reproachfully. That question the father could 
not answer satisfactorily. The truth was he had been 
so much interested in his own conversation and plans, 
he had forgotten that little feet, unable to keep up 
with his long strides, might be pattering after him ; 
so he had not looked back, and his son was left un- 
noticed for the time. The call of that son sounded 
in the father's ears as suggestive of the question from 
many a scholar to his Sunday-sdhool teacher, when 
the latter hurries on from week to week with never 
an hour of review or of re-explanation. The little 
ones cannot keep up with those older — the weaker 
with those stronger ; hence they seem hopelessly be- 
hind, and their cry is that of the child struggling 
after his father on the village street, " Why don't 
you look back ? Why don't you look back ?" Unless 



WHY TO REVIEW. 15 

you do look back very often in jour Sunday-school 
teaching, and help forward those who are behind, 
more or less of the scholars will be unable to keep up 
with you, and will count themselves neglected if not 
forgotten by their teacher. 

As Mr. Fitch says, '' We do not come to the Sun- 
day-school so much that we may give lessons, as that 
the children may receive them. Let us determine, 
therefore, that however little w^e teach, the whole of 
that little shall be learnt. Let us stop and recapitulate 
very often, especially if the class seems languid and 
indifferent ; let us think no time lost which is spent 
in satisfying ourselves that what has been said is un- 
derstood, and that we are making sure of our ground 

as we are o;oino^ on And let us determine 

at every step to secure that the whole of the children 
are advancing with us." 

Perhaps an entire class is behind hand because of 
its incompetent teacher. The scholars are bright 
enough, but their teacher has failed to understand the 
lessons, or to give an intelligent idea of them. In 
such a case the scholars gain not a little from a super- 
intendent's or pastor's review of the lessons before 
the school. Partial teaching on the first examination 
is in a measure atoned for on the review. The back- 
ward scholars are given a new chance, and those 



16 WHY TO REVIEW. 

poorly cared for before receive a new and better 
ministry. 

5. Familiar truths have a special attraction to 
scholars, 

" Sing ' Jesus loves me, this I know,' " asks a little 
girl, morning after morning at family worship. She 
wants that hymn sung because she knows that hymn. 
She never tires of it from hearing it over and over 
again ; but it is all the sweeter to her because she is 
familiar with its every line and strain, and is sure of 
her proper part in it. She is not alone among chil- 
dren in this feeling. It is a great mistake to suppose 
that children always want new hymns, new stories, 
new toys, new books. Usually the hymn they love 
best is the hymn they know best ; the story they call 
for oftenest is the one that has been oftenest told 
them. The old and shabby doll is generally preferred 
to a doll new and better dressed ; and the torn book, 
whose every page and picture is thumbed with using, 
is in many cases better liked than a book with strange 
pictures and unknown stories. Nor are children alone 
in this attachment to what has once impressed their 
minds, and with which they are pleasantly familiar. 
Daniel Webster never tired of "Gray's Elegy." 
Abraham Lincoln was always ready to hear again : 

" why should the spirit of mortal be proud ?" 



WHY TO REVIEW. 17 

Few men of culture would object to reading a book of 
Homer, an ode of Horace, a play of Sbakspeare, a 
canto of Dante or Milton, or a page of Tennyson or 
Longfellow, on the ground that they had read it be- 
fore. A really good thing is all the more attractive 
to one familiar with its best features. 

Of course it must be a good thing to be truly at- 
tractive ; and it is not to be senselessly and eternally 
reiterated. But as to the value of Bible truths there 
need be no doubt, and as to too frequent reviews of 
them there is surely as yet little danger. The young- 
est scholars will be pleased to hear about themes of 
which they already know something. They will be 
glad when questions are put which they can answer. 
And the older and more intelligent will rejoice^anew 
in every timely presentation of truths Once found 
immeasurably precious. 

6. The surest test of scholars 'proficiency is found 
in reviews. 

It is well to know what has been learned by a 
scholar, a class, or a school, in a given period. This 
discovery can best be made through reviews. In the 
army, occasional inspections and reviews test the 
thoroughness of daily drill in the " school of the sol- 
dier,'* the ''school of the company," and the "school 

2 



18 WHY TO REVIEW. 

of the battalion." Those troops are counted best 
suited to hard service of marching and fighting who 
appear best in parade-marching, who best handle their 
weapons, who are cleanliest in person, neatest in dress 
and equipment, prompest in action, and most accurate 
in required movements. The ordeal of battle rarely 
reverses the decision of the judicious inspecting and 
reviewinoj officers as to the character and attainments 
of those passed upon. 

In college life, the term, and annual, and biennial 
examinations show who are true scholars, as do no 
ordinary class-room recitations. A student may 
"pony," or gloss, or shirk along over daily lesson 
tasks without destroying his college standing ; but he 
can hardly come up to the trial of a review of the 
studies of a term, or of one or two years, without 
showing the stuff of which he is made, and proving 
his real acquirements in the knowledge sought by him. 
Indeed, some of our best American colleges are pro- 
posing to confer degrees at the close of a college 
course, only on those who then pass successfully a 
rigid examination on the studies of the entire cur- 
riculum. In the academy, or the common school, 
examination-day is the day most dreaded by the 
poorly-furnished pupil, and most valued by the dis- 
cerning teacher — as showing what progress the pupil 



WHY TO REVIEW 19 

has made ; how far the teacher's work has been 
fruitful. 

Why, then, should there be no reviews or inspec- 
tion of those, in the Sunday-school army, who are 
training, in the school of the soul, for hard-fighting in 
the battle of life, in the service of the Captain of our 
salvation ? Why should the student of God's Word, 
in the Bible-college, have not even an annual or a 
biennial examination, to show if their minds retain 
aught of that they have been seeking to learn ? Why 
should the Sunday-schools have never an examination, 
to test and fasten the Scripture knowledge of their 
scholars, young and old ? 

Some scholars would doubtless be surprised them- 
selves by the results of their examination in a review. 
They know less than they suppose. They gained 
nothing in study when they took it for granted they 
were storing their minds richly. It would be well 
for them to find this out. Not a few teachers would 
be amazed and ashamed to learn how ignorant their 
scholars are of the weightiest truths in lessons they 
have assumed to teach them. The absence of a re- 
view has kept them in sad ignorance of their own in- 
efficiency. It is time they learned it. So, many a 
superintendent and pastor would learn through review 
exercises what they ought to know of the lack in their 



20 WHY TO REVIEW. 

Sunday-schools. On the other hand, scholars, teach- 
ers, superintendents, and pastors would in many cases 
be surprised and delighted at the actual attainment 
made through the study of a series of lessons, if they 
applied to it the sure test of a review. If progress 
has" been made it ought to be known. If it is lacking 
that fact should stand out. A review is the only in- 
fallible test. The school that never has that is to be 
pitied. 



WHEN AND HOW TO REYIEW. 



The importance of Sunday-school reviews being 
admitted, the question recurs as to their times and 
methods. If the teachings of the Sunday-school are 
to be reviewed, when and how shall this work be 
done ? 

Reviews should be at both stated and occasional 
seasons. Set times should be given to them, that 
they may be prepared for, and receive undivided 
attention. They should be also occasional and un- 
expected, the better to test the learner's knowledge 
in the ground covered by them. 

The wise methods of review are as various as are 
their fitting seasons. They may be conducted in the 
class, or from the desk ; by the teacher, the superin- 
tendent, or the pastor. They may include the recita- 
tion of memorized passages, the free answering of 
questions on the teachings of the course, or both 
combined. Almost any mode of review is better 
than no way ; as almost any time of review is better 
than no time. 

21 



WEEKLY REVIEWS. 



Beviewing should be as frequent as teaching. 
Once a week is counted seldom enough for Sunday- 
school teaching. It is seldom enough for reviewing 
what is taught. In the class, if not from the desk, 
there should be some exercise of review every time 
a Sunday-school assembles. If there must be a 
choice, it would be better to have two Sundays of 
review to one of teaching new truths; rather than 
two Sundays of teaching to one of reviewing. But 
new truth can be taught each Sunday without the 
neglect of reviews. 

WEEKLY REVIEWS IN THE CLASS. 

It is well for a teacher to briefly review the lesson 
of the day at the close of each school session. The 
more important points touched in the first examina- 
tion of the lesson are worthy of repetition, to fasten 
them in the memory, to give them new prominence, 
and to show their mutual relations. Five minutes 
spent in this way, before the school closes, will often 
be more effective in teaching the truth of the day's 
22 



WEEKLY REVIEWS. 23 

lesson, and giving the scholars a sense of it as a whole, 
than all the time before taken. For lack of this kind 
of review many a class separates without a clear 
idea and positive impression of the lesson in the mind 
of one of its scholars. This brief review need not 
interfere with earnest words from the teacher in the 
spiritual application of the lesson, if he desires to 
close with them. They can as well follow the review 
as follow the first statement of the lesson truths. 
However brief is the time allotted to the lesson, a 
share of that time should be given to review. It is 
better to say one thing twice over, or ten times over, 
and have it understood and remembered, than to 
say two things, or ten, but once, and have them 
misconceived or quickly forgotten. Whatever is 
worth teaching to a scholar is worth reviewing. In- 
deed if it is not reviewed it can hardly be said to be 
taught. And subsequent reviews are more likely to 
be effective through a prompt review on the day of 
first teaching. 

A few minutes may profitably be given to a review 
of the last Sunday's lesson, at the opening of each 
class recitation. Scholars who learned that lesson 
well have it now but faintly, if at all, in mind. A 
review will bring it up afresh. Its truths are perhaps 
essential to a full understanding of to-day's lesson. 



24 WEEKLY REVIEWS. 

At all events it is important to keep up the connec- 
tion of the series of lessons. The title, the topic, 
the '' golden text,"* and the main incidents, or the 
more prominent teachings of last week's lesson may be 
brought out, by a few wise questions from the teacher, 
in a very brief time, as the opening class exercise. 
The former lesson is then distinctly in mind. The 
new lesson can be all the better recited and under- 
stood in consequence, Dr. Vincent's unqualified 
counsel to teachers is, "Every Sabbath review the 
lesson of the preceding week." Mr. Fitch says, out 
of his personal experience, '' I always made it a 
practice, in my own class, at a Sunday-school, not 
only to recapitulate the lesson just taught, but also 
to spend the first ten minutes of every Sunday after- 
noon in giving a few questions on the lesson of the 
preceding Sunday. I kept a record of those who 
answered best, and rewarded them by an extra mark 
or ticket. With elder boys, also, I always required 
the substance of last Sunday's lesson to be written 
down on paper in the course of the week, and brought 
to me each Sunday. One consequence of this was, 
that, some of the boys brought note-books with them ; 
and it is certain that far closer attention was paid to 

* A motto Bible text, in common use with tbe Uniform 
Lessons. 



WEEKLY REVIEWS. 25 

my teaching than before. Of course, this plan in- 
volves the necessity of some system and method, and 
of some little trouble too : for all the papers require 
to be taken home and read by the teacher. But of 
one thing we may be quite sure; no one of us, child 
or man, ever takes pains to grasp a subject, or fasten 
it in our memories, unless we expect in some way to 
find a use for it hereafter : so if we wish to get a real 
efi'ort of attention from children, we must do it by 
leading them to expect that their knowledge will be 
asked for again ; by showing them that when we have 
once taught a thing we do not forget it, but are sure 
to return to it ; it may be half an hour hence, or it 
may be a week hence, but at any rate certainly and 
systematically." 

Where a school has two sessions on Sunday, the 
first session may be given to the first recitation of the 
lesson, and the second to its review. But the open- 
ing and closing class reviews in a single session are 
not impracticable. Many a parent has this feature 
in family worship every morning in the week. He 
questions the children, before reading, on the Scrip- 
ture of yesterday. Briefly he brings out in this way 
the outline of the former passage. After reading, 
he questions on the passage just read. So each pas- 
sage is fastened in the mind, and the connection of 



26 WEEKLY REVIEWS. 

the series of readings is kept up unbroken. Those 
■who have tried it know that this method takes very 
little extra time, while it adds greatly to the interest 
and profit of daily Bible-reading in the household. 

superintendent's WEEKLY REVIEW. 

After the class recitations the superintendent can 
review the school as a whole on the lesson of the day. 
While no superintendent's review can do the work of 
the class teacher with his scholars singly, there are 
advantages in a general review from the desk. Unity 
in the school thought and teaching is thereby secured. 
One view of the lesson is given alike to all. The 
lack in classes poorest taught is in a measure sup- 
plied by the instruction of the superintendent — who 
ought to be the best teacher in the school. New 
prominence can be thus given to the most important 
truths of the day's lesson ; and fresh beauties in it can 
be disclosed. What the superintendent points out as 
true and precious is most likely to be accepted with- 
out question; and what the school collectively receives 
shapes the school character, and influences all its 
membership. 

But not every talk of a superintend'ent on the 
lesson at the close of the school session is a review of 



WEEKLY REVIEWS. 27 

that lesson. The superintendent may prefer to give 
his original view of it, rather than to conduct a re- 
view of it as already studied in the school. Perhaps 
he is interested in a single train of thought suggested 
by the lesson, which he wishes to pursue during all 
the time of his speaking. He has an address to make, 
but no review to conduct. Possibly he thinks more 
of making a spiritual impression on unconverted 
scholars, or on visitors who are there for the day, by 
an exhortation, or a pointed illustration, than of re- 
viewing the lesson which the school has been study- 
ing. A review is not incumbent on him, if he thinks 
it unadvisable ; but he should have clearly in mind 
beforehand just what his work is, and to that he 
should adhere. If he aims at a review, he should 
not indulge in a speech on the most important theme 
which the topic of the day suggests to him, nor at- 
tempt the work of a general evangelist by a sermon 
which is in no sense a re-exhibit of the lesson. He 
may, in reviewing the lesson, give new emphasis to 
particular points in it, and illustrate and enforce that 
which he thinks most important, or fears has been 
under-estimated ; but his work must be in the line of 
review^ or his school has no review by his help that 
day. 

No one plan is best for all schools. The superin- 



28 WEEKLY REVIEWS. 

tendent may call on the school for the title, golden 
text, and main facts of the lesson, as the teacher calls 
for them in the class. By Avise and well considered 
questions, he can bring out such of the lesson teach- 
ings as he would make prominent, and on these he 
can comment at pleasure. He can have on his black- 
board a central thought, a suggestive sentence, or an 
appropriate emblem displayed before the school, or 
he may use the blackboard freely as he goes on with 
his review ; only he must see to it that all these things 
are in the line of review, if it is a review he attempts. 
One way of bringing out for review what has been 
already taught in the classes, is by the superintend- 
ent calling on the teachers severally from the desk 
(say five or ten of them in succession), to give briefly 
the thought or truth from the lesson they have sought 
to leave with their scholars; he writing down these 
teachings as given, accompanying them with fitting 
comments, and perhaps adding another thought which 
he would make the concluding one of the day. This 
plan has the advantage of stimulating and reviewing 
the teachers. If they are liable to be called on be- 
fore all the school, at the close of the session, to say 
just what they have taught, they are more likely to 
notice as they go on what it is they are teaching; 
and too many teachers fail to know what is the lead- 



WEEKLY REVIEWS. 29 

ing thoaglit — if indeed they recognize any thought — 
in the lesson they have in hand. It trains teachers 
too to put a truth concisely and with precision ; if 
they must state it to go down on the blackboard in a 
brief sentence. The superintendent can aid them in 
this line, by re-stating more compactly the substance 
of their answer as he writes it out. In process of 
time they will become better skilled in this mode of 
reply, and will be the more useful teachers in conse- 
quence. The variety of topics furnished by a single 
lesson will often surprise the superintendent and 
teachers, and impress the entire school with a new 
sense of the fulness and richness of that passage of 
God's Word. Each class has special needs. A good 
teacher will draw out, from the exhaustless Bible trea- 
sury, that which is best for his scholars. This is well ; 
but there is also an advantage in his learning how many 
things besides are to be found in the lesson which has 
furnished such good to those of his charge. Some- 
times also a pastor or superintendent will be surprised 
to see how his teachers have failed of perceiving 
what he counts the most precious thought of all the 
lesson. There is thus an opportunity for him to point 
them to that. 

This method in actual practice works well. Schools 
which have long tried it find few difficulties in its use, 



30 WEEKLY REVIEWS. 

and are convinced of its advantages. Those who, from 
outside, have seen it on trial view it favourably. Take, 
for illustration, a lesson of the International Series — 
Jacob at Bethel, Genesis xxviii. 10-22. A few ques- 
tions from the superintendent, in his closing review, 
would connect this lesson with those before studied. 
The places named could be pointed out on the map. 
The main facts of the narrative would be given in re- 
sponse to questions. Comment could be made on any 
of these points as they came up. Teachers, being 
asked as to the practical lessons pressed by them, 
would perhaps, one after another, give such replies 
as these : — 

^' God is nearest when his children need him most.'* 

'• Our fathers' God may be our God." 

" God's blessings come by his grace, not by our 

merit." 

" Heaven is open to those whose eyes God opens." 

"New blessings call for fresh tokens of gratitude." 

"Angels watch us, by night as well as day." 

" The ladder to heaven starts from close by us." 

" Giving to God is a duty." 

" God's house is wherever God is." 

" Prayers go up and blessings come down by Jesus 

Christ." 



WEEKLY EEVIEWS. 31 

The superintendent could write out any or all of 
these answers on the blackboard as they were given, 
and have them read aloud by the school together. 
Turning the board he could show there displayed 
simply the exclamation of Jacob : 

" Surely the Lord is in THIS place !'' 

With a few words in enforcement of this solemn 
thought, and the recital of the text by the school, the 
lesson could be left for that day. Or, instead of the 
blackboard exhibit of Jacob's words, the golden 
text for the day might be recited, in closing, — 

" And he saith unto him, Yerily, verily, I say unto 
you. Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the 
angels of God ascending and descending upon the 
Son of man." 

pastor's weekly review. 

In some schools the pastor comes in every Sunday, 
to conduct the review and add timely words at the 
close of the session. Where the Sunday-school is 
counted as a regular service of the sanctuary, occu- 
pying the full forenoon or afternoon, a review of the 
lesson by the pastor is particularly desirable as pre- 
liminary to his enforcement of its teachings. The 
weekly review by Dr. W. E. Knox, in the Sunday- 



32 AVEEKLY REVIEWS. 

school of his former parish, at Rome, N. Y., was 
peculiarly instructive and helpful. Under the 
"graduated," as distinct from the "uniform," sys- 
tem of lessons, five different themes were studied at 
the same time in that school, yet the pastor reviewed 
these lessons together, each Sunday, in such a way 
as to show a common train of thought to all, or to 
exhibit their relation to a common central truth. For 
instance ; the lessons for one Sunday were : — 

Jesus Walking on the Waters. Matt. xiv. 24-31. 
The Prodigal Son. Luke xv. 14-19. 
Invitation to the Water of Life. John vii. 37-41. 
The Danger of Riches. Mark x. 23-31. 
Death of Ananias and Sapphira. Acts v. 1-11. 

The pastor, in reviewing, grouped these under a 
common head, as follows : — 



Conversion : What is it f 

1. The cry of a perishing soul. " Lord, save me!" 

2. The resolve of a hungry soul. " I will arise and 
go to my father." 

3. The coming of a thirsty soul. " If any man 
thirst, let him come unto me and drink." 

4. The soul leaving all for Christ. " Lo, we have 
left all, and have followed thee." 



WEEKLY REVIEWS. 33 

5. The soul greatly fearing to sin. " Great fear 
came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard 
these things." 

I. How simple the act of conversion for children. 
It is a cry ; a return ; the taking what is offered ; the 
giving up everything for Jesus ; the fearing to sin. 

II. Yet the work of salvation how divine. Who hut 
God can still the tempest, receive the sinner, feed the 
soul, be all in all to the needy, or keep the heart 
pure? 

The fact that this method of reviewing was con- 
tinued by Mr. Knox, for months together, without 
any failure to find a common thread through the five 
lessons of the day, shows that the consecutive lessons 
of any series for a month or quarter can be reviewed 
together harmoniously, through an intelligent study 
of them to this end by the superintendent or pastor. 



MONTHLY REVIEWS. 



MontHy reviews are more common than weekly 
reviews in the Sunday-school. Many a pastor who 
does not care to visit his Sunday-school each week, is 
glad to visit and review it once a month. The monthly 
Sunday-school concert, or general-exercise meeting 
of the month, is sometimes given to a lesson review. 
This meeting often takes the place of the" ordinary 
second church service, in the afternoon or evening, 
especially in country parishes, bringing the Sunday- 
school before the general congregation, where its pro- 
ficiency and progress in study may be shown through 
general exercises of review on the lessons of the 
month. Proof texts on the leading theme or special 
teachings of these lessons are sometimes called for in 
the concert, the scholars selecting texts to memorize 
and recite, in response to previously assigned ques- 
tions. Or a formal exercise of review is arranged for 
the concert. 

A good example of a concert review exercise, as 
arranged by John B. Smith, of East Hartford, Conn., 
on the lessons of the Uniform Series for January, 
34 



MONTHLY REVIEWS. 35 

1872, was published in the " National Sunday-School 
Teacher" of that date. The lessons and golden texts 
for the month were, 

Lessons. Golden Texts. 

The Exalted Saviour. Acts ii. 32-41. Acts ii. 36. 
The Eternal Mediator. Heb. iv. 11-16. Heb. iv. 14. 
The AU-Sufficient Lord. 2 Cor. xii. 1-10. 2 Cor. xii. 9. 
The Glorified Son of Man. Rev. i. 12-20. Eev. i. 18. 

The following extracts will show the character and 
form of the exercise : — 

Question. Our lessons for the month of January 
consist of one sermon and three letters. Can you te\\ 
me who was the preacher of the sermon? 

Answer. Peter. 

Q. And who wrote the letters ? 

A. Paul and John. 

Q. Under which head comes the first lesson ? 

A. The sermon. 

Q. Who did you say preached it ? 

A. Peter. 

Q. Who were his audience ? 

A. " Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the 
dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and Cappa- 
docia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, 
in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, 



36 MONTHLY REVIEWS. 

and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes 
and Arabians." 

Q. When was the occasion of this sermon ? 

A. The day of Pentecost. 

Q. What is the title of our lesson on this sermon ? 

A. The Exalted Saviour. 

Q. What is the first verse ? 

A. " This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we 
all are witnesses.'* 

Q. What is the golden text ? 

A. ^' Therefore let all the house of Israel know as- 
suredly, that God hath made this same Jesus, whom 
ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." 

Q. Did the preacher speak of sin in general, or did 
he bring home personal sin to those before him ? 

A. He said: "That same Jesus whom ye have 
crucified." 

Q. What was the result of this preaching on his 
hearers ? 

A. " Now when they heard this, they were pricked 
in their heart." 

Q. Did the people then praise and forget the 
sermon ? 

A. No, they " said unto Peter and to the rest of the 
apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do ?" 

Q. How long did the young converts wait before 



MONTHLY REVIEWS. 37 

they confessed their new faith in Jesus whom they 
had crucified ? 

A. " Then they that gladly received the word were 
"baptized : and the same day there were added unto 
them about three thousand souls." 

The second, third, and fourth lessons of the series 
were similarly reviewed. Then came this recapitu- 
lation and application of the four : — 

Q. Now will the whole school tell what is the title 
of our first lesson this month ? 

A. The Exalted Saviour. 

Q. What is the title of the second lesson ? 

A. The Eternal Mediator. 

Q. Of the third? 

A. The All-Sufficient Lord. 

Q. Of the fourth? 

A. The Glorified Son of Man. 

Q. To whom is Jesus ofiered as the exalted Saviour ? 

A. To every one. 

" Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and 
given him a name which is above every name ; that 
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things 
in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the 
earth ; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus 
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father," 



38 MONTHLY KEVIEAVS. 

(The superintendent reads with the school the words 
of Peter at the reception of Cornelius, from Acts x. 
34-43.) 

Q. For whom is Jesus Christ the eternal Mediator ? 

A. For penitent sinners. 

" If any man sin, we have an advocate with the 
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." 

(The parable of the Pharisee and the publican, from 
Luke xviii. 9-14, is read.) 

Q. For whom is Christ the. all-sufficient Lord ? 

A. To all who believe on him. 

" For God so loved the world, that he gave his only 
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should 
not perish, but have everlasting life." 

(The narrative of the jailor's conversion, Acts 
xvi. 25-34, is read.) 

Q. Who shall in the end rejoice in Jesus as the 
glorified Son of man ? 

A. Let John the revelator, who asked an angel 
who these Avere, tell us the angel's answer. 

(The entire school reads, or recites, from Revela- 
tion vii. 9-17 : 

" After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, 
which no man could number, of all nations, and kin- 
dreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the 
throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white 



MONTHLY REVIEWS. 89 

robes, and palms in their hands ; and cried with a 
loud voice, saying. Salvation to our God which sitteth 
upon the throne, and imto the Lamb," &c.) 

Even where the concert is not given specifically to 
review exercises, its topical recitations may be on a 
theme kindred to the studies of the month, and so 
aid in giving an exhibit of the relation of the lessons 
to one another, which will add to the effectiveness and 
interest of a general review when that is attempted. 
Thus if the month's lessons are about Abraham, or 
Moses, or Solomon, the concert recitations may give 
an outline of the life of the same person in Bible 
language. If the lessons are about Joseph in Egypt, 
or Daniel in Babylon, the recitations may be about 
Egypt, or Babylon. If the lessons tells of Elijah, the 
recitations may tell of the Prophets of Israel. If 
Jesus in the flesh is presented in the lessons, the 
Loving, or the Helping Saviour may be exhibited in 
the recitations. Lessons on our Lord after his resur- 
rection may be accompanied by recitations on the 
Ever-Living Saviour. With lessons on the miracles, 
may come recitations on Faith. With lessons enjoin- 
ing special duties, may be given recitations on the 
Commandments. 

It is certainly undesirable to allow more than a full 



40 MONTHLY REVIEWS. 

month to pass without some form of general review — 
review-questions from the superintendent's desk — 
if the lessons are to be kept well in mind by the 
school. Even though no full review of the series of 
lessons is attempted oftener than once in a quarter, 
there is an advantage in briefly examining the school 
on its lessons month by month, as preliminary and 
helpful to the quarterly review. The more reviews 
the better, within limits yet recognized as extreme. 



QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 



The fact that the plan of the International Les- 
sons provides for a Sunday of review once in three 
months, gives peculiar prominence to quarterly re- 
view exercises. Hints as to the nature and method 
of such exercises are, consequently, more common 
and more in demand than suggestions as to reviews 
at lesser intervals. Once in three months is certainly 
seldom enough to stop, in a school, and inquire what 
has been learned, and how it is valued; what has 
been retained, and what is forgotten of the lessons 
passed over. If reviews are attempted at no other 
time they should be on quarter-day. Yet those who 
have them quarterly will soon come to want them 
often er. 

The quarterly, like the weekly or monthly review 
may be conducted in the class by the teacher, or from 
the desk by the superintendent or pastor. The best 
plan includes both forms of exercise. The teachers 
need to review their classes, that they may reach 
their scholars singly. The superintendent ought also 
to handle his school as a whole, to secure unity of im- 

41 



42 QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 

pression. Neither method by itself does all the work 
desii'ed. Where a Sunday-school has two sessions a 
day, the first session can be given on quarter-day, to 
class reviews, and the second to reviews from the 
desk. Or a school can give its ordinary hour to class 
reviews, and have an extra session, in the afternoon 
or evening, as on concert Sunday, for the general 
review. If the school is limited to a single session, 
a portion of the review-hour can be given to the 
teachers, and the remainder to the superintendent. 

In the class or in the desk the review should not 
attempt too much. A review is not mere reiteration. 
To simply repeat all the questions of the twelve les- 
sons of a quarter would be as unprofitable an exercise 
as it would be tedious, by no means deserving the 
name of review. The man climbing a mountain, who 
looks back to review his course, does not track with 
his eyes each step of the path he has thus far trod ; 
but he sweeps over the entire region below with rapid 
glances, gaining a new understanding of the way he 
has passed, because he sees it as a whole instead of 
confining his attention to its varied and separate parts. 
"It would be to miss the great value of a review," 
says Dr. John Hall, " to spend all or even most of 
the time in the rehearsal by question and answer of 
the dry, bare facts, though these may be, indeed must 



QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 43 

be, recalled After a stranger has examined 

the great buildings and principal streets of a city which 
he visits, it is an immense help to him to get on an 
eminence, survey the whole, and take into his mind 
the general look and plan of the place. A good re- 
view ought to give a corresponding general idea of 
the natural relation of all the portions which have 
been studied in detail." 

Those portions of the lessons which were memorized 
in their first study, may be brought out afresh in the 
review, and made effective in giving a new conception 
of the lesson series as a whole This is peculiarly 
true of what is called the ''international," or " cen- 
tral," or " golden" text, which ordinarily states or 
suggests the choicest truth of the lesson. The subjects, 
of the lessons severally, as indicated in their titles, and 
topics, are also worthy of a place in the review. Indeed 
if the quarterly review did nothing more than to fasten 
in the minds of teachers and scholars, the titles, topics, 
and golden texts of tht; lessons they have been over, 
it would do a great work, a,nd well repay the time and 
labour it cost ; for few Sunday-schools can pass a good 
examination even thus far in their lessons ; none can 
where thorough reviewing is not practiced. But the 
quarterly review well conducted accomplishes more 
than the fastening in the mind of memorized portions 



44 QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 

of the lessons. It exhibits those lessons anew so that 
they are more clearly understood and more highly 
prized, as well as better remembered. It is well said, 
that " the art of reviewing successfully is the art of 
getting, at each repetition, the fresh interest of a first 
study, and without losing any of the knowledge gained 
at the first, adding, at each repetition, something 
wholly new. A review should be what the word im- 
ports, a second examination and study, a re-viewing 
of the whole subject."* 

NO REVIEW WITHOUT A PLAN. 

No Sunday-school exercise requires more careful 
preparation and thorough study, on the part of him who 
conducts it, than the quarterly review. The lessons 
of three months cannot be taken up and re-examined 
profitably at random. To use a single hour to advan- 
tage, in going over so much ground, every step must 
be well considered and wisely taken. The teacher 
who comes into his class on quarter-day with no 
thoroughly digested plan of review is likely to waste 
his time with his class, however fully he may occupy 
the hour. So of the superintendent with his school. 
Yet, in quarterly, as in weekly, reviews no one plan 

* " National Sunday-School Teacher." 



QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 45 

will answer for every class or for all schools. Each 
reviewer must have his own plan. It is to secure that, 
that preliminary study is necessary. 

The first thing, in making ready for a quarterly 
review, is for the reviewer to prayerfully look over all 
the lessons of the quarter, and decide in what way 
they can best be considered as a whole, in the class 
or school for which he is responsible. Perhaps they 
are to be viewed historically; as the story of one man, 
one family, one nation, or of two distinct and con- 
trasted peoples. If so, he is to decide what great 
teachings of the history he is to newly bring out. 
They may be seen to all illustrate one great truth, 
such as "The special providences of Grod," or, "Jesus 
our sympathizing Saviour." Then their re-examina- 
tion is a simpler matter. Possibly they are better 
shown in their successive relations to some central 
idea, such as " Holiness. — "Who should be holy ? 
Why to be holy ? How to be holy." In this case 
the reviewer is to link them properly as parts of the 
great chain. The line of review in his class or 
school, he is to decide on, and he cannot make this 
decision until he has the whole subject clearly in 
his own mind, in what seems to him a natural and 
fitting order for those whom he would teach and 
review. It may be said to each reviewer, as Dr. 



46 QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 

Hall says to each teacher, ''It would be worth while 
to go over the lessons ten times if necessary, in 
order to get into your mind a clear, distinct, logical 
division, so that you can say that one, two, three, 
four, five, no matter how many points include the 
whole thing, and these points do not overlap one 
another, but taken by themselves and taken together 
they present the whole subject . . . in a lucid 
and memorable order. . . . The battle is half 
fought when you have got a distinct, clear, manage- 
able, memorable division of the subject in your 
mind." 

Frequently the review golden text for the quarter, 
named by the International Lesson Committee, pre- 
sents a truth, or suggests a thought on which all the 
lessons for the quarter may well be strung. Thus the 
review text of the first quarter of 1873, on the opening 
lessons of the Bible, was, — '' For whatsoever things 
were written aforetime were written for our learning, 
that we through patience and comfort of the Script- 
ures might have hope." This suggested the thought, 
What has been told in these lessons ? and why ? The 
third quarter's review text for the same year, on the 
first lessons in the earthly life of Jesus, tells the 
story of them all, in the words, — '' This is a faithful 
saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ 



QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 47 

Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Perhaps 
a passage of Scripture is directly named by the Lesson 
Committee, as including a good plan of review. Thus, 
for the first quarter of 1874, the Song of Moses, from 
Exodus XV. 1-11, reviews God's dealings with his 
people, which have been the theme of study for three 
months previous. A similar review passage is named 
for the second quarter of the same year, from Deuter- 
onomy viii., where are rehearsed the divine mercies 
towards Israel, just studied in this series. 

PLAXS OF QUARTERLY CLASS REVIEW. 

While class-reviews should be more particular and 
personal to each scholar than are the reviews of the 
school as a whole, it is important that the teacher's 
quarterly examination of his class includes the points 
likely to be touched in the review from the desk, if 
such a review is to follow. If the superintendent or 
pastor is to call for the title, topic, golden text, or 
main incidents of the twelve lessons, the teacher 
should be sure that his scholars are familiar with 
these. In addition, he can make any application to 
his scholars individually, of the truths of these les- 
sons, which he deems desirable. If no general re- 
view is to follow, the form of the class-review is of 
course wholly at the teacher's option. 



48 QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 

The various periodicals furnishing notes on the 
Uniform Lessons are giving quarter by quarter, 
valuable plans of review, and hints on methods of 
work in this line. Such helps are likely to multiply. 
They are worthy of study. While no one way is 
always the best, every good way is suggestively help- 
ful to the thoughtful observer. Dr. Gregory, who 
has written on this theme perhaps more fully and 
clearly than any other American teacher, in opening 
the class reviews of the first quarter of 1872, on 
"Jesus after His Ascension," in the "National Sun- 
day-School Teacher," suggests such questions to the 
scholars as these : — 

"What is the great general aim of the lessons of 
this quarter ? 

" Why ought we to learn what the Bible tells us 
of the character, acts, and words of Jesus after his 
ascension ? 

" What was the topic of the first lesson ? 

" What was the Scripture statement in regard to 
the ' exalted Saviour V 

"What ' central truth' was drawn from the lesson? 

" Repeat the * central text.' 

" Show that this text and others in the lesson 
teach the central truth. 

"Give any other Scripture proofs or illustrations 



QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 49 

you can remember to show that Jesus is the exalted 
Saviour." 

And so through the lessons of the quarter. 

In reviewing, in the same magazine, the lessons of 
the second quarter of 1872, on " Elisha and Israel," 
Miss Timanus, in her infant class notes, states a truth 
as important to older scholars as to the youngest, 
when she says that in a quarterly review -'the per- 
sonal bearing of each lesson, rather than the points 
of biography or history " should be brought out by 
questioning. Thus : — 

"1. What kind of a man was Elisha? 

" ' He was wise and great.' 

" 2. Who made him so wise and great ? 

'"God did.' 

" 3. You learned about a little slave girl, and the 
great soldier Naaman, several Sundays past. Which 
was the wiser of the two ?"-^- 

And so on. 

" Faith Latimer," in similar notes on the .same 
lessons, in the " Sunday-School Times," clusters the 
" personal bearings " of the twelve lessons under 
the two heads, " God will hear prayer," and " God 
will punish sin." She calls to mind the incidents of 
the lessons by the mention of their personages. 

4 



50 QUARTEHLY REVIEWS. 

Her schedule of review, -which might be sketched on 
the class slate, or merely used as a mental guide of 
the teacher's questions, is : — 



PROPHETS. KINGS. SERVANTS. 

MOTHERS. CHILDREN. 

LEPERS. 

n nn wru t hear prayer 

ixUU WILL pxjOTSH SIN. 



She would run over the narrative elliptically, hav- 
ing the scholars fill in the missing words. Thus : — 

" Here is a river. Standing therCj are two . 

One strikes the water with a . Thej go over 

on dry . Suddenly there appeared a chariot of 

. One was taken up to . The other took 

up the fallen , and went back to the river ." 

While thus reviewing the narrative, she shows from 
the stories of Elisha, the little maid, and the sick 
king Hezekiah, that God will hear prayer ; from the 
mocking children, Gehazi, and the sinful nation, that 
God will punish sin. So the twelve lessons are re- 
viewed as one. 



QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 51 

A correspondent of tlie London '' Sunday-School 
Teacher " describes his plan of class-review, which 
might be adapted to almost any series of lessons. 
He uses a slip of paper, or card board, about twenty- 
two inches long by four wide. A class slate or 
portable blackboard would answer the same purpose. 
This slip, or board, is divided into two columns. In 
the first column are entered, in large, distinct letters, 
the names and descent of the principal characters of 
the lessons under review. In the second column, in 
smaller letters, are inserted suggestive words, to call 
to mind the more important events in the life of each 
character named. The scholars successively are 
asked what they remember about the subject of one 
line on the review-card. If they do not respond 
readily, the truth is called to their mind by prompt- 
ing questions or brief statements. For example, the 
card might show, as its opening words of review, 



ABRAM, 
LOT. 



HAUAN. CANAAN. 
BETHEL. EGYPT. FAMINE. 

HEEDMEN'S STRIFE. 
TENT TOWARDS SODOM. 



52 QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 

The teaciier could then ask Willie what he remem- 
bers of Abram. " Who called him ?" " Where was 
he living?" " Whither was he to go ?" Here might 
be applied the truth that God is constantly calling to 
us. When the story of Abram is sufficiently con- 
sidered, the teacher could call on James to tell what 
he knows about Lot. "What was his relation to 
Abram ?" "What first made trouble between Abram's 
and Lot's people?" "Towards what city did Lot 
remove?" etc., etc. 

In the " Baptist Teacher," Dr. Pepper gives always 
a plan for the entire lessons of the quarter, similar 
to that which he gives for the lesson of each week. 
For example, for the second quarter of 1873, includ- 
ing the lessons concerning Jacob and Joseph, he 
groups the lessons under four divisions, as follows : — 

"1. Alienation. Lessons I-III. 
"2. Separation. Lessons I Y-YI. 
. " 3. Reconciliation. Lessons VII, VIII. 
"4. Union. Lessons IX-XII." 

His summary of the teachings is, — " Through 
conflict into peace ; through toil into rest ; through 
gloom into light." 

He recommends for memorizing, Hebrews xi. 20-22, 
39, 40, — "By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau," etc. 



QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 53 

His golden text is the quarterly review text of 
the series, Pro v. iv. 18, — '' The path of the just is as 
the shining light," etc. 

A superintendent in Galeshurg, 111., Mr. Leach, 
has described in the last named paper, a method of 
public class-review, having the advantage of separate 
class examination in a harmonious plan for the entire 
school. In reviewing Twelve Lessons on Daniel, 
he subdivided the subjects of the series, so as to give 
to each of twenty-five classes a portion. To one he 
assigned the general geography of the lessons ; to 
another the description of Babylon ; to another the 
characteristics of the Jewish religion in the period of 
the captivity ; to another the religion of the Per- 
sians ; to another the history of the Medo-Persian 
kings, etc. He requested each teacher to prepare 
four or five questions, covering the more important 
points of his special theme, to put to his class on 
review-day. The review was conducted class-wise, 
by the teachers ; but openly as if from the superin- 
tendent's desk. Each teacher in turn reviewed his 
or her class in the presence of all the others. So 
every teacher "had the benefit of the style, the drill, 
and the quality of all the others" in this exercise. 
The younger scholars showed how well they could 
memorize Scripture texts, and the older ones gave 



54 QUARTERLY REYJJEWS. 

beautifully appropriate answers, m Bible language, to 
pointed questions from their teachers. Through this 
method the scholars were reached by their teachers 
severally ; but the lesson was reviewed as a whole by 
the school collectively. 

From these suggestions and examples it will be 
seen that a quarterly review exercise in the class 
may be as compact, as comprehensive, as harmonious, 
and as complete an exhibit of the twelve lessons 
under examination as can be that of any single lesson 
first taught. But such an exhibit needs prayerful 
and studious preparation, with the aid of the best 
helps the teacher can secure from all sources within 
his reach. 

PLANS OF QUARTERLY DESK REYIEW. 

The methods of successful quarterly review from 
the desk, by the superintendent, depend mainly upon 
the plan of ordinary teaching and weekly review in 
the school. If the school is accustomed to recite, 
each week, the title and topic and golden text of the 
lesson, there will be no difficulty in bringing these 
out on quarter-day. If, however, these points were 
not before made prominent, they will hardly be given 
promptly at that time. So of other points of review. 
They must be selected in accordance with the train- 



QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 55 

ing of the particular school. Questions may bo 
safely put to scholars who have been well taught, 
that would be entirely out of place for those without 
such teaching. Hence, a good plan of quarterly 
review presupposes instruction in the line followed 
by it ; or it will suggest such training to those to 
whom it is new. 

The main facts of the lessons are of course sup- 
posed to be known to all who have been over them. 
On them questions can be asked freely. But the 
superintendent is to decide in what line of thought 
he is to present those facts in the quarterly review 
exercise, and he can call them up conformably to 
his plan. They are the separate building blocks 
with which he may shape a structure according to 
his mind. Take, for example, the quarter's lessons 
on Israel and Joseph. The superintendent might 
decide to bring out in review this thought, ''It is 
safe only and always to do right." His questions 
could then recall the facts concerning Jacob deceiv- 
ing his father and being deceived by his sons ; the 
guilt of the brethren of Joseph disclosed years after 
they counted it covered, and in another land than 
their home ; the progress and final success of Joseph, 
in spite of the envy and malice of his brothers, the 
hardness of heart of the Ishmaelites, and the vile- 



56 QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 

ness and perjury of his Egyptinn enemies. Succes- 
sive golden texts of the series which bear on the 
selected truth might be recited and emphasized : — 
" There are many devices in a man's heart ; never- 
theless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand." 
"And we know that all things work together for 
good to them that love God." "For the Lord God 
is a sun and shield : the Lord will give grace and 
glory : no good thing will he withhold from them 
that walk uprightly.' " Be sure your sin will find 
you out." The quarterly golden text Avould have a 
new meaning, as an encouragement to well-doers, in 
the light of the truth presented in the review : " The 
path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth 
more and more unto the perfect day." The facts 
and the texts now recited were all learned before; 
but possibly they were not before seen in their bear- 
ing on the line of thought taken in the superintend- 
ent's review, and enforced and illustrated by his 
remarks. 

Perhaps the superintendent, in reviewing, would 
prefer to bring out the idea of " Joseph as a type of 
Christ." In this case he would naturally recall those 
facts which show Joseph loved of his parents and 
rejected of his brethren; his messages disbelieved; 
himself sold; sentenced to death; away from his 



QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 57 

home in a land of strangers, to save the lives of the 
perishing ; raised from the pit to the throne ; forgiv- 
ing those who wronged him ; mediating between them 
and the king ; securing for them a home in the king- 
dom where he rules. The golden texts would need 
special comment to show their connection Avith this 
view of the spiritual signification of the lessons ; yet 
they would be found in place in such a review. The 
rejection of Christ wdll be shown before all the world : 
"Be sure your sin will find you out." Those who 
have rejected Christ will stand speechless before him : 
"And his brethren could not answer him; for they 
w^ere troubled at his presence." By Christ alone are 
any counted just. Those who follow him "shall not 
walk in darkness :" " The path of the just is as the 
shining light, that shineth more and more unto the 
perfect day." 

Yet again, the superintendent might wish to review 
the quarter's lessons under several heads, having a 
mutual relation to a common theme. Thus :- 



T?1? VT? A T TATP H™SELF TO JACOB. 
Hh V i^AhlN Or jj jg pj^^j^g ^Q JOSEPH. 

C OT) Tivw A "RnrivjT ^^^ ^^^^ ^^ jacob and his elder sons. 

\J\JU i\L, VY AKLHiNUrrgj, FAITH AND UPRIGHTNESS OF JOSEPH. 

THE SINFUL SONS OF ISRAEL. 
ii.JliL»J^±iMiJNtr rfjjj, FAMISHING EGYPTIANS. 



55 QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 

Here again the facts and golden texts would be 
differently brought out and used, and another impres- 
sion produced through them. So in various ways the 
same lessons of any quarter may be reviewed in the 
line of the superintendent's well considered plan, and 
the entire school be carried along in it through his 
questioning and comments. 

Sometimes the superintendent desires to learn the 
thoughts and test the knowledge of his school, on the 
lessons of the quarter, by securing questions from 
them on its points of interest or difficulty. He 
wants to shape his plan of review to their needs. 
He would have them take an active part in its pre- 
paration, as well as in its using. Eben Shute, of 
Boston, has experimented successfully in this line. 
He prepares slips of writing paper, of the size of a 
half sheet of commercial note, with a printed head- 
ing, as follows : — 

QUESTION PAPER FOR QUARTERLY REVIEW, 

March 30, 1873. 

Each scholar is invited to ivrite on the blank space heloio a question 

on any one of the lessons for the past quarter. Please give the date 

on which the lesson was studied. The subjects have been as folloios : — 

Jan. 5. The Creation, . . . Gen. i. 1, 26-31. 

" 12. In Eden, Gen. ii. 15-25. 



QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 59 

Ample space is left below for the date of the lesson 
in question, and for the question itself These slips 
are distributed a Sunday or two before quarter-day 
to teachers and scholars, with the request that they 
be returned to the superintendent in season for him 
to examine them before that occasion. When the slips 
are all in his hands, with the questions on them, the 
superintendent can arrange them by their dates, and 
afterwards shape his plan of review to their tenor and 
scope. He may use only a portion of the questions, re- 
jecting the rest, if he sees a reason for so doing. The 
same inquiry will be often repeated, and one answer 
will suffice for it. On review-day these questions may 
be brought in in their proper place in the plan of the 
superintendent's review ; he answering them himself, 
or — which is usually better — calling on some one in 
the school to answer them severally, as they are read. 
The disclosure, which is made by this method of re- 
view, of the ignorance and wants of the school on the 
theme of the quarter's lessons, will usually startle 
the superintendent, and give him cause for thankful- 
ness that he did not take too much for granted as to the 
faithfulness of his teachers, or the attainments of his 
scholars. He will also be stimulated and helped by 
many of the questions which come up to him on these 
slips. He will have no lack of points of comment 



60 QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 

and review. As showing the character of questions 
called out bj this method of review, the following are 
given from a collection of slips received on the first 
quarter-day of 1873 : 

" Was Adam ever a boy ? or was he created a 
man?" 

"How were the evening and the morning distin- 
guished in the first three days of the creation, as the 
sun and moon were not created until the fourth 
day?" 

"What did Cain and Abel talk about?" 

"When we 'pitch our tents towards Sodom,' may 
we always expect the good angels to come to warn 
us?" 

" Why was the faith of Abraham tested so many 
times by God?" 

"Did God act impartially in his dealings with Jacob 
and Esau?" 

"Was Jacob a Christian when he was at Bethel?" 

Another method of quarterly review introduces 
other portions of Scripture, as illustrative of the 
truths brought out in the facts of the quarter's lessons. 
The scholars are set to re-examine those lessons, and 
find in them a correspondence with truths elsewhere 
declared in the Bible. For instance, Bev. E. C. 



QUARTEELY REVIEWS. 61 

Starr, of Waseca, Minn., in reviewing Twelve Les- 
sons on Daniel, called on liis school to compare 
those lessons with the beatitudes of the Sermon on the 
Mount, and note the examples given in the lessons of 
sucli characters as Christ pronounced blessed ; also of 
the opposite characters ; and of the fitting reward or 
punishment that met them. He suggests that the 
commandments might thus be brought out in com- 
parison with lessons on personal conduct or duty. 
And so with the teachings of our Lord Jesus ; his 
works of ministry ; the Psalms ; the Proverbs, in con- 
junction with other series of lessons. 

A common and a simple order of quarterly review 
exercises is the recitation of memorized portions of 
the lessons, by designated members of the school, 
according to the method of a Sunday-school concert, 
as already named under the head of monthly reviews. 
While this is but a partial review at the best, it is 
decidedly better than no review, and some schools 
will attempt it who would not attempt one more 
thorough and complete. It gives a general exhibit 
of the -quarter's lessons, and it fastens in the minds 
of all those texts which they personally recite. 
In this way the lessons may be shown in their common 
teaching of one great truth, in their more important 



62 QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 

separate teachings, or bj their titles and topics and 
golden texts in their order. 

For instance, Twelve Lessons on Elisha and 
Israel, were seen to all teach this truth : *' God 
a Power in Human Affairs." The superintendent in 
reviewing them, selected passages from the successive 
lessons to emphasize this thought, and assigned them 
to particular classes for recitation. On quarter-day 
these recitations were given in response to his ques- 
tions. So one great truth w^as exhibited in every 
recitation of the review exercise. Again, Twelve 
Lessons in Genesis were reviewed in a concert exer- 
cise which comprised a running outline of their 
narrative, through selected and assigned verses, with- 
out the attempt to show the same truth in all. The 
thread of their story rather than the teaching of 
their series was made prominent in the review. Yet 
again, the titles and golden texts of Twelve Lessons 
on Israel and Joseph were recited consecutively in 
review, in the simple endeavour to refresh the mind 
with their w^ords — not to enforce the teachings or 
story of the quarter's course. 

While these review recitations of memorized pas- 
sages have their value, it would be surely unwise to 
limit to them the review exercises of quarter-day. 



QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 63 

Such recitations are well as accompanying a general 
examination of the school in its knowledge of the 
quarter's lesson, or as supplemental to thorough class 
reviews. In the reviews conducted by Henry P. 
Haven, of New London, Conn., a member of the 
International Lesson Committee, who is superinten- 
dent of both a church Sunday-school in the city and 
a neighbourhood Sunday-school in the country, a com- 
bination of the methods named is secured. On quarter- 
day his teachers have a brief space of time for the 
review of their classes severally. Then he calls for the 
titles and topics of the twelve lessons from the entire 
school, and again more or less of them from desig- 
nated classes. The golden texts are given in their 
order by particular classes, at his option. Important 
verses from the successive lessons are called for ; 
also verses from intermediate Bible chapters or sec- 
tions, when the selected lessons are of a narrative 
character. He puts questions to the school as to the 
special teachings of particular lessons, and perhaps 
comments on these in passing. The recitations and 
responses are intermingled with singing ; and he 
usually follows them with a brief address in enforce- 
ment of the review teachings. 

A similar combination of review recitations and 
examination was wrought out more elaborately by 



64 QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 

r. A. Ferris, of the Fourteenth Street Presbyterian 
Sunday-school, New York, on the first Twelve Les- 
sons in Genesis. Appropriate selections, from the 
lessons and from parallel passages, were assigned to 
particular classes and individuals, for recitation in the 
order of the lessons. Each lesson was called for by 
its title or topic. Its fitting recitations were given 
by persons previously designated. Free questioning 
on that lesson, by the superintendent, followed. After 
singing, the next lesson was similarly taken up. And 
so through the series. For example : 

''Man's Glory and Honour in the Earthly 
Paradise." 

Class. — "And the Lord God took the man, and 
put him into the garden of Eden, to dress it and to 
keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, 
saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely 
eat : but of the tree of the knowledge of good and 
evil, thou shalt not eat of it ; for in the day that thou 
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." 

Teacher. — " And the Lord God said. It is not good 
that the man should be alone ; I will make him an 
help meet for him." 

Class. — "And out of the ground the Lord God 
formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the 



QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 65 

air, and brought them unto Adam to see what he 
T.'ould call them : and whatsoever Adam called every 
living creature, that was the name thereof." 

School. — " Thou madest him a little lower than the 
angels ; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, 
and didst set him over the works of thy hands." 

SwperinUndent. — How came Eve to think of dis- 
obeying ? 

School. — She listened to the tempter. 

Sui^t. — Did she think she would lose or gain by 
sinning ? 

School. — She expected to gain. 

Supt. — Was she disappointed ? or were her expec- 
tations realized? 

School. — She was disappointed. 

Supt. — When Adam and Eve realized their guilt, 
what did they try to do ? 

School. — To hide from God. 

Supt. — Can any sinner hide from God ? 

School. — Never. 

[The answers here given are in substance those 
sought by the superintendent. If his first question 
did not bring out the desired reply, another would be 
shaped accordingly. Printed schedules of the mem- 
orized portions of this review exercise were prepared 
in advance. The scholars had little slips containing 

5 



66 QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 

the texts they were personally to recite, also an out- 
line of the exercise as a whole. The teachers had the 
exercise in full for their guidance.] 

By this method the advantages are attained of an 
orderly and formal exhibit, through memorized texts, 
of the entire series of lessons, without losing the 
benefits of an examination of the school on the teach- 
ings of those lessons, through the superintendent's 
questions. 

In the " Berean" adaptation of the International 
Lessons, Dr. Vincent's counsel is, " The Quarterly 
Review should usually comprise: — 1. A repetition of 
the topics and golden texts of the quarter; 2. A 
pleasant drill on the history and geography of the 
lessons ; 3. A careful questioning of the school on 
the leading truths taught ; 4. A concert of respon- 
sive readings, including two or more of the lesson- 
hymns, for opening or closing the session ; 5. An 
address by the pastor or other person enforcing the 
leading truths tauorht in the twelve lessons." In re- 
viewing the golden texts, the elliptical mode of calling 
for them is suggested. Thus, " And we know that . . . 
work together for ... to them that . . . God." 

These different plans of quarterly review will 
doubtless suggest other similar plans in variety. Each 



QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 67 

of them has peculiar features likely to commend it to 
some, and to prove advantageous on occasions. Out 
of them all may be made selections and combinations, 
and perhaps their best methods may be improved on. 

METHODS OF REVIEW QUESTIONING. 

Much depends, in reviews, as in other Sunday- 
school exercises, on the questions put by the leader, 
in the class or from the desk. Those who have heard 
Drs. Richard Newton, John Hall, or Stephen H. 
Tyng, Jr., question a Sunday-school on its lessons of 
the day, or of a month or quarter, have possibly 
realized what skill is displayed in the framing of ques- 
tions to attract attention, to awaken and direct 
thought, and to give a new life and meaning to the 
truth elicited. A single question may call out more 
of hearty interest and of searching thought in an 
entire class or school than would be provoked by an 
hour's ordinary teaching. The title, the topic, the 
golden text, the main incidents, the leading truth of 
a lesson assumes a new meaning, a new importance, 
a new preciousness under the startling, the instruc- 
tive, the persuasive questions of a skilled reviewer. 
To ask a school, for instance, as to the lesson, in the 
International Course, on the escape from Sodom, 
" Wkat is the title of the ninth lesson of the quarter?" 



68 QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 

would hardly excite such an interest, as it would to 
inquire " Which lesson tells of a more sweeping fire 
than that of Chicago or Boston ?" So in improving 
the teachings of that lesson, there would be an ad- 
vantage in asking, '' "Which lesson reminds us that we 
shall gain most by leaving everything behind at God's 
call ?" instead of, " Which lesson shows the judgment 
on Lot's wife?" The story has been told of a min- 
ister arresting the attention of a godless, but soon 
converted hearer in his congregation, who was an e?^- 
tensive land-owner, by suddenly asking, in the line 
of his discourse on the true riches of the soul, " My 
friends, have you ever thought how much real estate 
was worth in Sodom ?" Many a person gains a new 
conception of a truth, and a new sense of its value, 
through some such startling inquiry coming to arouse 
and direct his thoughts. 

It is not proposed to discuss in this work the theory 
and practice of questioning. Mere reference can be 
made to the advantages of wise questioning in re- 
views, with a few illustrations of its more effective 
methods. The teacher or superintendent should look 
carefully over such portions of the lessons as he is to 
include in his review, and plan questions on them 
suited to command the attention and quicken the 
thought of his scholars, and to bring out and impress 



QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 69 

in their minds the truth which is ah-eady in his. 
They have learned the words or the facts of the les- 
sons. His questions can put those words or facts in 
a new light, and adapt them to new uses. In this 
way, while questioning his scholars he is hoth stimu- 
lating and instructing them. John B. Smith, of East 
Hartford, Conn., to whose review exercises reference 
has already been made, is peculiarly skilled in the 
manner and phraseology of review questions. Speci- 
mens of his work in this line are given herewith as 
illustrations. He is accustomed to have the titles and 
golden texts of the lessons memorized by the entire 
school. His review questions therefore presuppose his 
scholars familiarity with these. He usually questions 
separately on the substance, the teachings, and the 
uses of the lessons, by their titles and their golden 
texts. For example, on the titles of the lessons : 

" Which lesson tells of the first brick building of 
■which we have an account?" 

(" Confusion of Tongues.") 

" Which tells of a man whose money and new 
clothes cost him too much?" 

(" Gehazi's Sin.") 

" Which tells of a miracle by which a minister's 
poor widow was enabled to pay her debts ?" 

("The Widow's Oil Increased.") 



70 QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 

" In what lesson is given the text of a great 
preacher, a cousin of Jesus?" 

(" The Yoice in the Wilderness.") 

" Which tells of a great water-cure establishment ?" 

(" The Pool at Bethesda.") 

" Which tells of a people who preferred their swine 
to Jesus ?" 

("The Man among the Tombs.") 

It can hardly be doubted that such questions will 
give new life to a review exercise, and set the scholars 
at thinking. The same may be said of similar ques- 
tions emphasizing the teachings of reviewed lessons. 
Scholars will have to think before answering them. 
That thinking will do them good. 

" Which lesson shows that nobody is too good to 
work?" 

(" In Eden." Sinless Adam was set to work.) 

" Which lesson shows the folly of trying to hide 
from God?" 

("The Fall and the Promise." Adam and Eve 
could not conceal themselves from God.) 

" Which shows that nothing should be kept back 
when God asks for it ? 

(" Trial of Abraham's Faith.") 

"Which teaches us how to pray for dead souls ?" 

(" The Boy Restored to Life," [by Elisha].) 



QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 71 

""Which shows the value of prayer for the sick ?" 

("Hezekiah's Prayer.") 

Then, in the practical application of the teachings 
of the lessons : 

" Which lesson should a boy, or a man think of 
when he drives a powerful horse in safety ?" 

("The Creation." God gave man dominion over 
every living thing on earth.) 

" Which should encourage us, when we find our- 
selves in the minority at God's call ?" 

(" Noah and the Ark." All the world was against 
Noah, when he was doing his best work.) 

" Which should warn us not to put ofi" repent- 
ance i 

(" Jacob and Esau." Esau repented too late.) 

" Which should encourage even the humblest child 
to expect to do great good ?" 

("The Little Captive.") 

" Which should prompt us to be workers for Jesus 
as soon as we are his disciples ?" 

("The First Followers." Andrew bringing Simon. 
Philip finding Nathanael.) 

So, of the golden texts. New thoughts as to their 
teachings and uses may be prompted by the questions 
which call them up on review-day. For instance, as 
to their teachings : 



72 QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 

" Do jou know an angel's Christmas song?" 

(•' Glory be to God in the highest, on earth peace, 

good will toward men.") 

"Did Jesus ever visit Africa?" 

(" Out of Egypt have I called my son.") 

" If a man die, is that the end of him ?" 

('' I am the resurrection and the life : he that be- 

lieveth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.") 
"Which golden text asserts that Jesus is God?" 
(" For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the God- 
head bodily.") 

And as to their uses : 

" Suppose a man should say to you, ' One man 

tells me. This is right; another, This; I am in the 

dark, and know not what to do.' What text would 

you have for him ?" 

(" Jesus said, ' I am the light of the world ; he that 

followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall 

have the light of life.' ") 

" Suppose one says, ' I never did much out of the 

way. I think I am pretty good ;' what text would 

you have for him ?" 

(" All we, like sheep, have gone astray ; we have 

turned every one to his OAvn way, and the Lord hath 

laid on him the iniquity of us all.") 

" What text have you for one who says, ' I mean 



QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 73 

to live for Jesus, but I can't «peak to my friends 
about him ?' " 

(" Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great 
things the Lord hath done for thee.") 

The best recommendation of this style of question- 
ing is found in its results. Scholars Avho have been 
thus trained not only retain in memory the text and 
teachings of the lessons they have been over, but they 
are enabled to apply the truth with which their minds 
are stored, according to the wise suggestions of their 
teachers and superintendents, and their peculiar per- 
sonal needs. Its methods are well worthy of study 
by every leader in exercises of review. 

A help in review questioning is found in the desig- 
nation of particular words calculated to bring each 
lesson or golden text to mind. The leader selects a 
word which is peculiar to the phraseology or teach- 
ings of that passage, and names it to the school, ask- 
ing to which lesson or text it belongs. At once the 
thoughts of all are busy searching the several passages 
in review, to see which contains the mentioned word, 
or to which it is appropriate. So thoughts are quick- 
ened, and the review is promoted. Dr. Vincent calls 
these '' Help-words." He names several for each les- 
son in review, susrnjestive rather of the teachinors than 
of the language of the lesson. Eor instance, on 



74 QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 

*' Israel — The New Name," he gives "Night," "Com- 
bat," "Daylight," "Victory." Ralph Wells some- 
times makes one of these "help-words" the key or 
text to an extended exercise. Thus in reviewing, in 
the " Sunday-School Times," Twelve Lessons on 
Elisha and Israel, he names, to bring to mind the 
more important scenes in Elisha's life, the words, 

"Mantle, Waters, Oil, Child, Leper, Guards, De- 
liverance." 

Then, for the first section of review, he gives this 
outline for the superintendent's blackboard, or the 
teacher's slate : — 



Mantle. 

Text. — " I pray thee, let a double portion of thy 

spirit be on me." 
Hymn. — "Jesus, I my cross have taken." 
Lesson. — An humble, faithful servant exalted. 
[The workmen is taken : the work continues.] 

Gilgal, Bethel, / Another beautiful robe offered 



Jericho, Jordan. I to you 



John B. Smith calls these suggestive words, "Les- 
son-words," or ''Text-words," according to their 



' QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 75 

source; he taking them from the language of the 
lesson or golden text. Thus he asks, 

"Which lesson is called to mind bj the word 
* Bears' ?" 

(" The Waters Healed." " There came forth two 
she hears out of the wood, and tare forty and two 
children of them.") 

"Which by the word ' Heel' ?" 

("The Fall and the Promise." "It shall bruise 
thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heef) 

" Which golden text are you reminded of by the 
word ^ Strengtheneth ' ?" 

(" I can do all things through Christ which strength- 
eneth me.") 

" Which by the word * Beginning' ?" 

("In the beginning was the Word, and the Word 

was with God, and the Word was God All 

things were made by him.") 

In the ordinary practice of this method of review, 
it is sufficient for the teacher or superintendent to 
simply pronounce the word, without asking a ques- 
tion ; the class or school responding immediately with 
the lesson or text in which it is found. Thus the 
mention by the superintendent, of the words, con- 
secutively, 

"Image," "Fat," " Slime," " Salt," "Venison," 



76 QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 

would bring back, one after another, from the school, 
the titles of these lessons in Genesis : 

" The Creation," "Cain and Abel," ''Confusion of 
Tongues," "Escape from Sodom," "Jacob and Esau." 

The words, "Sneezed," "Dipped," "Windows," 
would call up, from the life of Ehsha, 

"The Child Restored to Life," "The Leper 
Healed," " God's Deliverance." 

From the golden texts of the lessons on Joseph, 
the words, 

"Babes," "Sin," " City," would be responded to 
with; 

" I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and 
earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise 
and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." 

" Be sure your sm will find you out." 

"For here we have no continuing cit?/, but we 
seek one to come." 

This method is found in practice to work well. 
The children are interested in it. It promotes thought 
on the part of all. 

VISIBLE HELPS IN REVIEWING. 

The eyes of the scholars may in various ways be 
made serviceable in review exercises. A Bible-read- 
ing may be conducted as the opening exercise of the 



QUAETERLY REVIEWS. ^ 77 

review, — the superintendent or teacher naming various 
parallel or illustrative passages, to be found by the 
scholars in their Bibles, and read aloud, one bj one, 
on his call. The teacher's slate and the superinten- 
dent's blackboard may be used at discretion, in pre- 
senting the central thought or the successive teachings 
of the exercise, or in noting its facts biographically 
or chronologically. Those who fancy chalk sketches 
of chains, and ladders, and stairways, and arches, and 
spiral columns, and pyramidal courses, and radiating 
stars and suns, will be likely to give a section of the 
chosen picture to each head of the review, while some 
leaders will form an acrostic and others an alliterative 
sentence out of the different points in the exercise. 
The golden texts for one year, or for two or three 
years, printed in compact form for ready reference, 
are used in many schools. The review golden text 
of the quarter is sometimes displayed before the 
school on the blackboard, or in illuminated letters on 
a muslin sheet. Diagrams and relics, illustrative of 
the history, or manners and customs of lands of the 
Bible brought into notice in the quarter's lessons, are 
often shown to advantage on review-day. The magic 
lantern, the stereopticon, or the sciopticon can be 
made serviceable in connection with reviews, exhibit- 
ing large size illustrations of the lessons, in a style 



To QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 

suited to convey a better idea of oriental countries 
and people than would otherwise attain in most 
minds. Of course such exhibitions should not take 
the place of formal review exercises, while they may 
advantageously accompany them. A week-day evening 
lecture on the theme of recent lessons may be thus 
illustrated wisely. Questions on the main points of 
the lessons illustrated may be asked of the school, in 
passing. 

Maps, also, m.ay wisely be brought into frequent 
requisition for reference in reviewing. Benson Van 
Vliet, of New York, giving a review lesson in the 
"Sunday-School Times." on the first lessons in Gen- 
esis, says, on this point : 

" Of course, every Sunday-school has a large map 
in it. Of course the children know where the moun- 
tains of Ararat are, and have had pointed out to 
them the possible location of Eden, and the prob- 
able one of Babel. Of course they have seen the 
race of man, consisting of eight persons at the foot 
of the mountains, grown to be a considerable nation, 
building the tower when God confused their tongues 
and scattered them, and have followed them on the 
map, and have seen just where the descendants of each 
of the sons of Noah settled and dwelt. They have 
undoubtedly traced Abram from ^ Ur of the Chaldees' 



QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 79 

to Haran, then southward to Canaan, thence to Egypt, 
and back again to Hebron. They have been taught 
these things so thoroughly, that they can answer 
equally as well whether the map is before them or 

out of sight Of course you will use a 

map in your review." 

A diagram, showing by stencil-plate letters the 
catch-words, or suggestive initials of the titles, topics, 
texts, and teachings of the quarter's lessons, so that 
all in the room may see it, is often found useful in 
review-exercises. With the help of this the leader 
can carry with him the eyes of all, as he points to the 
letters or words of his diagram, and secure prompt- 
ness and unity in the answers, while the memory and 
understanding of those whom he leads are quickened 
by the suggestive symbols. Mr. Yan Yliet arranges 
the review outline of each lesson on an extended sheet 
to be shown, one section at a time, on a revolving 
"song-roll." Mr. Smith, of East Hartford, is more 
compact in his review outline. He presents it for the 
twelve lessons in large letters on a hanging sheet, say 
four feet square, so displayed that it can be seen by 
ail in the room at the same time. His plan is inge- 
nious enough to be shown as an example. The follow- 
ing is his diagram for a rewiew of Twelve Lessons 
in Genesis :— 



80 



QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 



c. man. 
rhome. 
I free, 
r chose evil, 



TITLES. GOLDEK TEXTS. FACTS. 

.0. world. 
1. The 0. In the h. . ■ Word. 



1 

Fh 3. p. & P. As by one. 

4. 0. & A. Te are comet 

5. TS. & A. By faith N. 



^ e.B.inO. I do set. 



r accepted ... A. 
Irejected , . . C. 



fu. . . . d 
tb. . . If. 



drowned, 
saved. 
G-od made, 
it means. 



COMPORTS. 

world— I. 

my F . . . good. 

merciful. 

accepts. 

never f. . , 
every cloud. 



7. 0. of T. He . . . scattered. 



{men r, 
Gods( 



scattered. 



fG-od . ■ . promises. 
8. C. with A. He staggered ■< . promises. 

CAhraham believed. 



9. E. from S. How shall. 

"a 

p^ 10. T. of A.'sP. And A. said, 

11. J. & E. And E. said, 



("Angels . . Lot. 
lAngels . . . Sodom. 

A. said. 

A. called. 



just. 



meet. 



{;. 



late. 

f J. .hard. 
12. J. at B. And he ... verily. -j 

CJi saw. 



defeated. 

J. C. . . ladder. 



QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 81 

To aid the memory these lessons are divided into 
three sections, according to the families of which they 
treat : the first four relating to Adam's family ; the 
next three to Noah's ; the last five to Abraham's. The 
review text of the quarter is noted along the right 
hand side of the diao-ram : " For whatsoever thing-s 
were written aforetime were written for our learning, 
that we through patience and comfort of the Scrip- 
tures might have hope." As a purpose of God in 
giving to us the Scriptures, is that we may have com- 
fort from them, it is well in a review like this to see 
what is the special comfort furnished by each lesson, 
as well as to note the facts, golden texts, and titles 
of the lessons. This explains the headings of the 
several columns of abbreviations on the diagram. 
The abbreviations themselves are made clear in the 
course of the review. Their meanings are not all 
obvious without the leader's explanation ; but with 
that they become most helpful. For instance, as to 
the first lesson, the leader brings out by questions 
that its title is " The Creation ;" its golden text, " In 
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with 
God, and the Word was God. . . . All thinjis 
were made by him ;" its two great facts, " God created 
the world," " God created man." He then suggests 
as a comfort \n that lesson the thought, '' The world 

6 



82 QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 

has a Father, and I have a Father." On this show- 
ing, the abbreviations of the first line have a clear 
meanino;. If the school has been well taught and 
well reviewed in the lessons week by week, many of 
the abbreviations will need no explanation, but even 
where the school has been poorly taught and not be- 
fore practiced in this line, two or three repetitions of 
the texts and statements indicated by the abbrevia- 
tions are usually sufficient to fix them in the learners' 
minds. Indeed this review-plan has been used by 
Mr. Smith not only in his own school, but as an ex- 
periment in a mission-school unskilled in reviews, to 
the unalloyed interest of even the younger scholars, 
who seemed pleased to give back the correct answer on 
the second or third trial if they could not at the first. 
As the titles and golden texts of the twelve lessons 
covered by this review-plan are known to those famil- 
iar with the International Series, while the "facts" 
and *' comforts" indicated by the abbreviations are 
not obvious, it may be well to give the following key 
to these, in further explanation of the diagram : — 
Lesson. Facts. Comforts. 

2. God gave man a beautiful home. ^^, j,^^^^^^ j^ ^^^^ 
God made man like himself, free. 

3. Man chose evil. ^^^ ^^^^^^ .^ ^^.^if^i, 
God promised a Saviour. 

Sing, 

"Jesus the -^ater of life will crive." 



QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 



83 



Lesson. Facts.' 

4. God accepted believing Abel. 



Comforts. 
Father accepts 



Mj 

God rejected unbelieving Cain. every believing child. 

5. The unbelieving -world was drowned. My Father never forgets 



Believing Noah was saved. 
6. God made the rainbow. 

It means he will not drown the 
world any more. 

Y. Men rebelled again. 
God scattered them. 

Sing, 



his believing children. 
My Father puts a bow 

of promise in every 

cloud to them that 

believe. 
My father rules the 

world he has made. 



If my home is built upon a rock." 



8. God made to Abraham great prom- 

ises. 
Abraham believed them. 

9. Angels saved Lot. 
Angels destroyed Sodom. 

10. Abraham said, God will provide. 
Abraham called the name of the 

of the place, Jehovah Jireh. 

11. Isaac blessed Jacob. 
Esau repented late. 



12. Jacob had a hard pillow. 
Jacob saw angels. 



Sing, 



My Father makes to 
every believing child 
great promises. 

My Father is just^ as 
well as good. 

My Father will meet 
my faith. 

My Father's plans can- 
not be defeated by 
his friends. 

My Father has given 
his Son Jesus Christ 
to be a ladder for the 
angels. 



Nearer, my God, to thee.' 



84 QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 

The diagram being turned at the close of the re- 
view exercises, the reverse shows a few words, as fol- 
lows, to aid, through united recitation, in making a 
final impression : — 



'-'• Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob 
for his help, whose hope is in the Lord." 

GOD THE CREATOR. 

OUR FATHER. 

GOOD. 

PATIENT. 

MERCIFUL. 

JUST. 

RULING. 

MEETING. 

PROMISING. 

" May the God of all comfort, comfort us in 
all our tribulation, that we may be able to com- 
fort them which are in any trouble, with the 
comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted 
of God." 



QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 85 

In a review of the lessons on Israel and Joseph, by 
John Wanamaker, at Bethany Sunday-school, Phila- 
delphia, a strip of muslin, about three feet wide by 
twenty-one feet long, was stretched behind the super- 
intendent's desk, from near the floor up towards the 
ceiling. This strip was coloured in seven sections, the 
colours blending into one another, and successively 
brightening from the dark shaded beginning to a golden 
glow at the top. Across the entire strip was printed 
the review-text, which it illustrated, " The path of 
the just," etc. 

In reviewing the same lessons, Rev. G. A. Peltz, at 
Newark, N. J., employed a series of paper strips, six 
feet long, one strip for each lesson, on which were 
sketched, in crayon, representations of leading facts 
in Joseph's life. These strips when suspended, one by 
one as called for in the review, exhibited the varied 
path of Joseph, from the tent home of Israel, byway 
of the sheaves to the pit, thence to Egypt, up and down, 
and down and up again, until it was lost in the clouds 
of heaven, while the displayed words over all, " God 
was with him," told the source of Joseph's prosperity. 

Rev. H. C. McCook, of Philadelphia, reviewed the 
first Twelve Lessons in Genesis, with the help of 
the following simple and instructive blackboard dia- 
gram : — 



86 



QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 



ALL HISTORY REVOLVES AROUND 



><i. 



^^ V 



^4i, 



'a/iVe 



Q> 



^'^ 
^'b. 



c^ 



v^^ 






,8»<^^ 




QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 87 

While teaching through the eye is just now as much 
ahused as teaching through the ear has long been, 
and many silly things are being shown on the Sun- 
day-school blackboard, and from the Sunday-school 
platform, as many silly things have been said from the 
pulpit and desk, a sound Christian discretion will dic- 
tate as to the wise use of all the teaching agencies 
available, rejecting none merely because they have 
been often misused ; but saying to those who, through 
sight and hearing, are taught and reviewed effectively 
and judiciously, " Blessed are your eyes, for they 
see; and your ears, for they hear." 

REVIEWS IN THE TEACHERS' MEETING. 

The superintendent who would have his school well 
reviewed in its lessons each quarter should be careful 
to instruct and lead his teachers in review exercises. 
The teachers' meeting immediately preceding a review 
Sunday, might well be given up to the subject of re- 
views. Different methods of review might there be 
canvassed, and the best decided on and accepted. 
Then is a good time to learn what the teachers have 
taught during the quarter ; and as to this the super- 
intendent needs information ; for there can be no in- 
I telli^ient review where there is a lack of knowledire as 



88 QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 

to the truth taught in the first examination of the 
lesson. Of course there need be no doubt as to the 
facts presented in the quarter's lessons. The letter 
of the text is conclusive as to them, and the superin- 
tendent can review them intelligently. But as to the 
special teachings from these facts in the several classes, 
he needs to be informed by the individual teachers. It 
is a good plan to ask each teacher at the review teach- 
ers' meeting what particular truth or truths he has 
emphasized in his class from each lesson of the quarter. 
It is well to further ask the teaclier what special 
benefit he has personally received out of the quarter's 
study in which he has led his class. The varied les- 
sons taught by the several teachers, as thus brought 
out in the teachers' meeting, will prove suggestive and 
helpful to all who thus compare them ; and out of 
them the superintendent may select those which he 
deems best suited for use in the review he finally con- 
ducts in the school. He may also indicate to his 
teachers those lessons which he would have them make 
most prominent in their class revie\ys. A superin- 
tendent cannot expect that himself or his teachers will 
do their best work on review Sunday, if he has failed 
to bring them into mutual conference over this special 
service, and to counsel them out of his careful study 
of the entire subject. The experience and wisdom of 



QUARTERLY REVIEWS. 89 

all the teachers ought to exceed the attainments of 
any one. It is for the superintendent to see that 
each of the teachers has the advantage of all that can 
he furnished by the others in reviewing, as in first 
teaching, the lessons, with his own best thought and 
most careful judgment added. 



ANNUAL AND OCCASIONAL REVIEWS. 



Annual review exercises are perhaps less common 
than they should be, although they are by no means 
unknown. With some schools these are among the 
most valued exercises of the year ; but as yet they 
lack the general favour shown to reviews at lesser in- 
tervals. There seems a peculiar propriety in annual 
reviews. The year completes a school cycle. The 
school anniversary is ordinarily observed, with a 
public exhibit of the year's record of attendance and 
contributions and special work. As the Bible lessons 
ought to be of chief interest in the passing Sundays, 
their review ought to be a prominent exercise in the 
disclosure of the year's doings. It is a pity, while 
learning who have been at Sunday-school week by 
week, and what has been the amount of their mission- 
ary giving, not to know what has been studied by 
them, and to what purpose, in the twelve months re- 
viewed at the Sunday-school anniversary. Even 
though "it is more blessed to give than to receive," 
it is by no means better to make an exhibit of what 
90 



ANNUAL AND OCCASIONAL REVIEWS. 91 

we have given than of what we have received, in 
Sunday-school or elsewhere. 

There is an advantage in taking the Sunday-school 
directly before the general congregation for its annual 
review. The church ought to knoAV what progress is 
making in Bible knowledge by the children of its 
charge. Parents ought to learn what is the nature 
and substance of the instruction given to their chil- 
dren in the Sunday-school. If no more frequently, 
at least once a year the school of every church should 
be examined and reviewed in the presence of pastor 
and people ; and the neighbourhood school should be 
thrown open to the general public, that its "profiting 
may appear to all." 

Even if no Sunday is assigned to annual review 
exercises, in the plan of the International Lessons, 
the time should be found for them. Other ser- 
vices might be suspended, to give them a place. 
Less important anniversary exercises have often been 
crowded in on a Sunday, when every hour seemed 
full. If indeed a Sunday cannot be secured, a week- 
day afternoon or evening may well be taken for this 
purpose. If there is a will for an annual review, the 
way will not be lacking. 

The methods of annual review need not differ 
materially from those of quarterly review. The pur- 



92 AXXUAL AXD OCCASIONAL REVIEWS. 

pose of the two reviews is the same. Lessons which 
have been studied singly are to be looked at anew in 
their mutual relations. Only, with the larger number 
of lessons to be reviewed, there is less time for atten- 
tion to minor points of interest in the series, in the 
annual review than in the quarterly. A coast map 
on the scale of an inch to one hundred miles must leave 
out many little inlets and smaller headlands that are 
by no means without a local interest and importance, 
and which, indeed, must have their place on fuller 
charts, for use by those first navigating that coast. 
Yet the smaller map may give a good knowledge of 
the shore outline, and bring into fitting prominence 
its bolder promontories, and its principal bays and 
harbors. To review forty-eight lessons in the same 
time as twelve, much must be omitted that would 
otherwise demand attention. Skill in leaving out 
matter is quite as important as skill in handling what 
is retained, in an annual review. Skill in the two de- 
partments will enable a reviewer to go advantageously 
over the lessons of one year, or of five years, in a single 
school session. But the scale of the sketch must be 
conformed to the outline included and the limits as- 
signed to its exhibition. The grouping of the lessons 
in their quarterly sections is a natural one for their 
anniversary examination. '' What was the subject of 



- ANNUAL AND OCCASIONAL REVIEWS. 93 

our first quarter's lessons ?" is the point of commence- 
ment for the annual review. Many scholars who 
have not been reviewed in their studies would be 
unable to tell the subject of their Sunday-school 
lessons, quarter by quarter, at the close of the year. 
It is no small matter to gain an intelligent look at the 
four quarters' lessons, separately and together, when 
they are once passed over. 

The quarterly golden texts, the main facts of each 
quarter's lessons, and the teachings and uses of these 
texts and lessons, should be included in the annual 
review. There will always be found, through careful 
study, such relations or contrasts in the lessons of 
successive quarters as will give point to their collec- 
tive review. If one portion of the year has been 
given to the Old Testament, and another to the New, 
an exercise can bs arranged to show Christ shadowed 
and promised in the former, and pictured in his earthly 
'life in the latter. Or, God's provisions for man, under 
the one dispensation and under the other, can be ex- 
hibited from the same lessons. The Law and the 
Gospel can perhaps be set over against one another. 
Or prophecies and promises, and their fulfillment, 
may be shown respectively. 

The four quarterly review texts of the first year's 
series of the International Lessons tells the story of 



94 ANNUAL AND OCCASIONAL REVIEWS. 

God's purpose and provisions, in his Word, in 
behalf of sinners : 

I. " For whatsoever things were written aforetime 
were written for our learning, that we through patience 
and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." 

II. " The path of the just is as the shining light, 
that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." 

III. " This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all 
acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to 
save sinners." 

IV. " Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end 
of the world." 

If the quarterly reviews have been well conducted, 
these texts have such a meaning to the scholars that 
the superintendent can review them in their mutual 
relations with comparative ease, and profitably. So 
of such salient facts or important teachings of the 
different lessons of the year as he may see fit to use 
in the annual review. 

Each review should be linked, if possible, with the 
review of the same kind next preceding it. A quar- 
terly review should not be passed without some refer- 
ence to the lessons of the previous quarter. So each 
annual review should make mention of the correspond- 
ing review of the year before, — and perhaps show the 
bearing of the one annual course on the other. 



ANNUAL AND OCCASIONAL REVIEWS. " 95 

Besides these stated weekly, monthly, quarterly, 
and annual reviews, and reviews at other set times, 
such as semi-annually or biennially, there should 
often be informal and partial reviews in the studies 
of every class or school. A truth in to-day's les- 
son perhaps suggests a lesson of six weeks, or ten 
months, ago. The two lessons may well be linked. 
The Egypt into which the young child Jesus was 
taken is the Egypt where Abram once had a home, 
and where Joseph passed from the dungeon to the 
throne. Those who have studied of this land before 
might be reviewed in their knowledge of its associa- 
tions on coming to it again. God promised a Saviour, 
in Eden. The Messiah was also promised to Abraham 
and to Jacob. When the scholars study the story of 
Jesus they should be refreshed in their memories of 
the Old Testament teachings of the coming Redeemer. 
One golden text may present a similar truth to another 
of some months before ; or it may supply its comple- 
ment. The former text may well be recalled, on 
repeating the new one. So, in the class or from the 
desk the occasional calls for review may bring up 
former lessons, to give them a new value in the light 
of recent study. 

Peculiarly is it important for the teacher, in his 
class, to review his scholars according to their indi- 



96 ANNUAL AND OCCASIONAL REVIEWS. 

vidual capacity and attainments, rather than by any 
set rules for all. Ten reviews will be called for on 
some pomts,. or with some scholars, where one w^ould 
answer in another case. ''Important truth," says 
Groser, " often needs, and will bear to be repeated, 
with a frequency proportioned to its intrinsic import- 
ance and the dulness of the pupil. The well known 
anecdote of the celebrated Mrs. Wesley is much to 
the point. She was reiterating some point of instruc- 
tion to one of her numerous family, when her hus- 
band, who sat by, exclaimed impatiently, ' How can 
you tell that child the same thing, twenty times over.' 
' Because, my dear, nineteen times were not sufficient,' 
was the quiet but crushing reply." Whether nineteen 
times or ninety are the limit for the child's need of 
review, the teacher must ascertain, — and do his 'work 
accordingly. 

"And these words, which I command thee this 
day," says the Lord, "shall be in thine heart: and 
thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, 
and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine 
house, and when thou w^alkest by the way, and when 
thou liest down, and when thou risest up." The 
very word translated "teach," in this divine injunc- 
tion to repeated reviews, is, according to the mar- 
ginal reading of our English Bible, more literally 



ANNUAL AND OCCASIONAL REVIEWS. 97 

"whet," or " sharpen." The figure is that of bring- 
ing the knife to an edge by striking it first on one 
side and then on the other, over and over again. To 
keep his knives in good order the workman has need 
not only to grind them all at set seasons, but to strike 
each one a few times on the stone whenever it shows 
dullness. So of him who would teach his scholars 
diligently. He must review them statedly, occasion- 
ally, and often. "In short," as says Dr. Gregory, 
" let it be the standing rule in the class, that reviews 
are always in order." 



\ 



ANTIQUITY OF REVIEWS. 



The divine injunction to repeated reviews already 
quoted from Deuteronomy, suggests the thought that 
review exercises for the teaching and impressing of 
God's truth are not an agency of modern invention. 
They are as old as the human race. Their use con- 
forms to God's earliest plan for man's religious cul- 
ture. A plea for them is a plea for the old paths ; 
for adherence to the method chosen of God for the 
instruction of his children of old, and commended by 
him for permanent and universal acceptance. 

The Sabbath itself was clearly designed as a day 
for weekly review — to bring again to mind the already 
shown truth that God is the Father of us all, and that 
he counts both work and rest, in their season, accept- 
able in his service. When God had completed his 
work of creation, he reviewed it all ; " and God saw 
everything that he had made, and behold it was very 
good." Then "he rested on the seventh day from 
all his work which he had made." " Wherefore the 
Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." From 
98 



ANTIQUITY OF EEVIEWS. 99 

then until now, each Sabbath is a review-day in the 
plan of God. The change of the Sabbath from the 
seventh day to the first has only brought in another 
item for review, without losing sight of the truth first 
commemorated. The old creation by Christ, and the 
new creation in Christ are reviewed together in the 
Lord's Day Sabbath. 

The great feasts and fasts of God's ancient people 
were all review services — reviewing lessons and truths 
taught long before. "Remember this day, in which ye 
came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage," 
said the Lord, as he prescribed all the suggestive details 
of the Passover review exercise. " And thou shalt 
shew thy son in that day, saying, This is done because 
of that which the Lord did unto me when I came 

forth out of Egypt Thou shalt therefore 

keep this ordinance in his season from year to year." 
Every memorial stone and pillar set up at God's 
com,mand reviewed some special dealing of his with 
his chosen people. Each Hebrew song of deliverance, 
or psalm of praise, was a review recitation, for the 
benefit of all who joined in, or heard it. All those 
daily recitations of the law to which the Israelites 
were commanded, and all its inscriptions on their 
door-posts and phylacteries were but reviews of well 
remembered truth. 



100 ANTIQUITY OF REVIEWS. 

\Yliat a grand review exercise was that in which the 
twelve tribes had part on their entrance into the long 
promised land of Canaan ! It was arranged for by 
Moses It was carried out under Joshua. " And it 
shall be," said Moses, " on the day when ye shall pass 
over Jordan unto the land which the Lord thy God 
giveth thee_, that thou shalt set thee up great stones, 
and plaster them with plaster. . . . And thou shalt 
write upon the stones all the words of this law very 
plainly." Following this command for what might 
seem the blackboard portion of the review exercise, 
there came the assignment of the several class-tribes 
in the review recitations. There were to stand upon 
Mount Gerizim, to bless the people, Simeon, and Levi, 
and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin. 
And on Mount Ebal, to utter the curses, were to stand 
Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and 
Napthali. The Levites were to recite the blessings 
and cursings, and all the people were to " answer and 
say, Amen." So, as directed, the plan of review 
was carried out. "Half of them over against Mount 
Gerizim, and half of them over against Mount Ebal, 
as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded 
before," stood the tribes of Israel, and their elders, 
and officers, and judges, and " there was not a word 
of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not 



ANTIQUITY OF REVIEWS. 101 

before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, 
and the little ones, and the strangers that were con- 
versant among them." 

How frequently God called, by his servants, on 
his people to remember his words to, or his works for 
them : " Kemember that thou wast a servant in the 
land of Egypt;" "Remember what the Lord thy 
God did unto Pharaoh;" ''Remember all the way 
which the Lord thy God led thee;" '' Remember the 
days of old, consider the years of many generations;" 
" Remember all the commandments of the Lord, and 
do them." In such ways God was continually review- 
ing his children in the facts and teachings of his for- 
mer dealings with them. 

When Jesus came as the Great Teacher, his chief 
work of instruction was not in telling new truths, but 
in showing old ones in a new light. Only one "new 
commandment" did he give to his disciples; but many 
times did he so review before them the familiar teach- 
ings of the old law that all became as new. "Have 
ye not read?" was again and again his piercing re- 
view question to Pharisees, and Saducees, and chief 
priests, and other cavillers, when he would point them 
to some Scripture truth, which they had long known 
but had sadly undervalued. And what a precious 
closing review of all the Old Testament teachings 



102 ANTIQUITY OF REVIEWS. 

was that which he gave to the disciples who walked 
with him, toward Emmaus, after his resurrection : 
*' Then he said unto them, fools, and slow of heart 
to believe all that the prophets have spoken ! Ought 
not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter 
into his glory ? And beginning at Moses and all the 
prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scrip- 
tures the things concerning himself." He quoted 
prophecies and recalled teachings which his disciples 
had learned or read before ; but in the grouping and 
illumination of their divine review those things had 
new force and a new meaning in the minds of his dis- 
ciples. In that exercise Jesus gave the model for all 
reviews of Old Testament teachings, as he is ever and 
only the Model Teacher. In looking anew at the 
former portions of the Word of God, every learner 
is to find in them fresh glimpses of him who is the 
" Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the 
first and the last," of all that is written as to God's 
plans for the redemption of his fallen creatures. 

The early Christian church gave prominence to re- 
view-exercises in teaching. St. Luke wrote his Gospel 
not as telling what was utterly new, but in rehearsal 
"of those things which were most surely believed" 
among the disciples. " Remember the words of the 
Lord Jesus," said St. Paul; "Kemember that Jesus 



ANTIQUITY OF REVIEWS. 103 

Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead :" 



^' Remember je not, that, when I was jet with you, 
I told you these things ?" *' To write the same things 
to you," he added, as to his practice of review, "to 
me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe." To 
Timothy, he said, " Continue thou in the things which 
thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing 
of whom thou hast learned them ;" and, " If thou put 
the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou 
shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished 
up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, where- 
unto thou hast attained." 

The catechumens of the early church were always 
practiced in review exercises for years before their 
admission to the full privileges of ohurch fellowship ; 
and reviews have never since been wholly abandoned 
as a means of Christian teaching. Every formulated 
creed is for the review of accepted truths held precious 
by believers. The " Apostles Creed" is recited in 
many churches on each assembling for worship — to 
review old truths, not to present new ones. Catechisms 
are review compilations for the benefit of young disci- 
ples. They are prepared to be once learned, and 
many times reviewed. All liturgical exercises of 
worship have a chief value through the familiar 
truths they review. So of a large share of the hymns 



104 ANTIQUITY OF REVIEWS. 

of the ages. Every social gathering for the renewal 
of the church covenant, for the recital of personal 
Christian experience, or for the reaffirmation of indi- 
vidual faith, is a meeting for review exercises, testify- 
ing, as far as it goes, to the accepted worth of this 
agency of instruction and impression 

For centuries after the Reformation, the principal 
work in the religious instruction of the young was in 
repeating and reviewing truths and statements already 
memorized. All the catechetical teachings of our 
fathers, in the Church of England or among the Puri- 
tans, were in the proportion of ten hours of review to 
one of original study. Even when the Sunday-school 
first gave new prominence to Bible study, a large 
share of its work was through the reciting and reiter- 
ating of memorized texts. It is only since the ex- 
amination of the truth taught in the passages studied 
has became a prominent part of Sunday-school work, 
that review-exercises have diminished in prominence, 
and that, in consequence, it is needful to call fresh 
attention to their value and methods. 

It is well that the ceaseless reviewing of the words 
of the Catechism, or of the Bible itself, with which 
our fathers were largely content, is not now deemed 
the only method of religious instruction ; but that the 
facts and teachings of the Bible record arc examined 



ANTIQUITY OF REVIEWS. 105 

carefully by and with the children. It would however 
be unwise to lose what was advantageous in the old 
modes of study, while gaining all that is best in the 
new. Our advance in methods of work should be 
through adding improvements to former approved 
agencies, rather than through exchanging one agency 
for another. " Every scribe which is instructed unto 
the kingdom of heaven . . . bringeth forth out 
of his treasure things new and old." It is far better 
to have both thoughtful study and frequent reviews, 
than to have, on the one hand, unintelligent memor- 
izing with endless repetitions, or, on the other hand, 
continual examinations of new truth with little or no 
reviewing of what has been once passed over. 

That child would make little gain in physical 
strength who was incessantly nibbling at some new 
bit of even the most nutritious food, without giving 
his system time to review and digest what it had 
already taken in. A young man would know little 
of the delights of social life if he was persistently 
seeking new acquaintances ; never paying attention to 
any friend of yesterday. It would be a ruinous policy 
for a merchant to be always making purchases, with- 
out stopping to see what he had in store, and finding 
out what to do with it. The poorest possible mode 
of reading or studying is in passing rapidly on from 



106 ANTIQUITY OF REVIEWS. 

page to page, and from theme to theme, with never a 
season of thoughtful intelligent review of the intel- 
lectual ground already passed over — the very method 
pursued in every Sunday-school which is yet lacking 
in systematic review-exercises. 



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